Burdens
by Draconian Sorceress
Summary: My version of the events of Lay Down Your Burdens Pts. 1 & 2 and how season 3 will begin to unfold. This is my first try at a BSG fic so please be gentle on me. Reviews are welcome, especially constructive criticism.
1. Chapter 1

Dee had been looking forward to this night for weeks, it would be the first night that Lee had been able to sneak away from his duties on board the Pegasus to meet her for dinner and drinks on the Cloud Nine. Ever since his father had given him command of the other battlestar, it had been difficult to find time alone together. Lee had been insistent on keeping their relationship under wraps; apparently pretending that somehow they had successfully managed to keep their relationship under wraps so far. Sometimes she was amazed at how naïve such a jaded man like Lee could be.

Once again she considered trying for a transfer to the Pegasus, so they could be together all the time. As soon as the thought entered her mind though, she tried to quash it as she'd done before. Lee would never go for it; he was too by the book, and while the crew weren't outlawed from relationships together, issues of rank aside, it wasn't exactly encouraged either. The problem was, in a society as small as theirs, there was no way to keep anything secret. It was more or less common knowledge who was sleeping with who, who was fighting with who, the existence of a Cylon prisoner on board, nothing was sacred private information.

The other thought that drifted into her mind was Starbuck. How much of Lee's reluctance to publicly admit to their relationship was because of his feelings for Starbuck? There was just no way of knowing. The two were close, very close, sometimes too close for Dee's comfort. And the Admiral loved Kara like she was his own daughter, but he only respected Dee as a competent soldier.

Shaking herself out of her melancholy thoughts, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was going to totally knock Lee on his ass, she grinned. At just that moment, Lieutenant Gaeta walked into the head. He stood there quietly for a moment, just looking at Dee's reflection too.

"Is there a problem, Sir?" she asked, finally noticing where his attention was centered. He cleared his throat, stepping forward and looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"Uh, Apollo, that is, Commander Adamaasked me to get you a message," he said quietly, conscious of other crewmembers coming and going from the head. "He wanted me to let you know that he was going to have to cancel tonight, something came up….. unexpectedly," he finished lamely.

"That's all he said?" Dee asked turning and meeting his eyes.

"The Admiral called a meeting on the Pegasus; they're planning a rescue mission to retrieve the survivors still on Caprica."

"And he told you this?" Dee pressed.

"Well, not exactly," he replied, unable to meet her eyes. "That was the rumor floating around CIC after the Admiral's Raptor departed for the Pegasus."

"Sir, please, just tell me exactly what Lee told you."

"Dee…."

"Tell me!"

"He asked me to make his excuses and let you know he was going to have to cancel your dinner plans tonight, something important had come up and his father was already on the way to the Pegasus."

"Make his excuses," Dee said bitterly.

"It's just a figure of speech Dee, you know that."

"Is Starbuck there?"

"I don't know."

"Come on sir, she's Galactica's CAG now, don't give me that line of crap that you don't know whether or not she was under orders to attend."

He didn't meet her eyes for a long moment. "Do I need to remind you of the number of times when Apollo was CAG and managed to slip away undetected?"

She knew he what he was referring to, Apollo had told her a little bit about his mission to bring the black market operations of the fleet under control. The rest of it she heard about through the rumor mill, something to do with a whore and a little girl. All Lee had told her though, was that it had been a top secret mission at the behest of the President and his father.

"But this is different," she insisted. "Those were top secret missions that we couldn't afford to let leak. It would have put a lot of people in danger."

"Right. And that makes any planning sessions, possibly top secret planning sessions different how?"

She looked away, feeling like ten times the fool for her jealousy over one Captain Kara Thrace. "You're right," she muttered. "I was just really looking forward to tonight, you know? It just figures that of all the nights for the Old Man to call a top secret meeting this would be the one."

"Um, sure," Gaeta mumbled uncomfortably. There was no way he'd ever do another favor for Apollo again he swore to himself, knowing he was lying to himself as he did, he'd have to be out of his mind not to. "Look, if you're okay, I really need to get back to CIC."

"Wha? Oh, yeah, sure, go."

As Gaeta hurried out of the head, Dee turned to the mirror again. She took in the sight of her carefully made up hair, the dress she'd borrowed from a friend of a friend, and her heart silently broke. Without much care, she began to tug the pins from her hair, watching as it fell carelessly to her shoulders in a jumbled mess. She peered at her reflection again in the mirror, sighing heavily as she did. A look of determination crossed her face as she decided what she was going to do.

A scant hour later, she was onboard a raptor headed towards the Pegasus with a bunch of new pilot trainees. Gaeta had had to pull a couple of strings to get her on the ride, but she was going to pay him back for it some day. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have an actual purpose for being on the Pegasus now; she was supposed to be picking up some Dradus components for maintenance of the Galactica's. So what if she wasn't one of the tech's that would normally be handling the equipment maintenance, it wasn't like anyone would ask. Once she made it to the Commander's quarters on board the Pegasus nobody would even know she was there, just the way Lee liked it.

With that in mind, she still couldn't shake the butterflies in her stomach. What if Lee wasn't happy to see her? What if the meeting was over, and he and Starbuck were together? What if there had never been a meeting at all?

* * *

After the Admiral, the President and her staff, the Marine Commander and the XO's of both battlestars had left, Lee found himself alone with Kara. There were butterflies in his stomach when he thought about the crazy suicide mission she was about to embark on. She could never take the easy road, not Kara; it had to be full throttle into danger all the way. It was actually the thing he both loved and hated about her most. Sometimes he wished he had her crazy, unrestrained courage. But usually he wished she had a little less of it. He finally couldn't procrastinate with pouring their drinks any longer. He turned, smiling as he presented it to her.

"You know…" he started, just as she began to speak too.

"Look Lee…"

They both looked away from each other, unsure of what to say. Lee leaned back against his desk, looking at her carefully.

"Go ahead, what were you going to say," he prompted.

"No, you first."

He grinned, shaking his head. Of course she had to have the last word. "I just wanted to say that I really hope you find him." Anders, the resistance leader. The man Kara Thrace loved enough to risk everything for. Still smiling, Lee felt a sharp pain in his heart as his thoughts flew in that direction. "And I hope you'll make it back here safe."

"Wow. Lee, you've gotten so sentimental since you took command," Kara smirked. It was exactly the kind of answer he expected from her. Tough as nails Starbuck, that's who she wanted everyone to see her as anyway.

"Well, it just won't be the same without you around. Who else am I gonna have to bail outta the brig?"

"Right, that's your reason."

"Of course."

"You can be a real ass sometimes, you know that don't you Lee?" He just smiled at her, setting his glass of ambrosia on the desk beside him. "But thanks. I'll try to make it back in one piece."

They looked at each other again, and neither of them knew for certain who moved towards the other first, or if the movement had been done spontaneously together. Either way, they were both hugging each other fiercely before they new it.

"I'll be back before you know it. Sharon and Helo know the lay of the land pretty well, and I remember it like I was just there," she said softly.

"I'll try to keep Colonel Tighe on his toes until you get back then," Lee answered, his arms tightening around her briefly before they broke away, meeting each others eyes for a brief moment as they did. Everything they wanted to say to each other but were too afraid to was in that look.

"You do that. I should probably get going. There are a few more details I want to work out before we take off."

"Well, I should probably be getting back to CIC anyway," he told her, following her towards the door. As they stepped through the portal, they paused, pulling each other into another brief hug.

"Take care Kara. I meant everything I said."

"I will. Don't worry, you won't be getting rid of me that easily," she said before walking away down the corridor. Lee stared after her for a few moments before turning and heading the opposite way. Neither of them noticed Dee, watching them from the shadows. She wiped a stray tear from her cheek before moving away from the wall.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do now, but before long she found herself on board a raptor and on her way back to the Galactica, the Dradus parts sitting in a case beside.

* * *

That had all been over a year ago, before the colonization of New Caprica, but it all came rushing back to Dee at the sound of Starbucks voice. Turning towards Lee, she thrust the communications receiver towards him. "It's for you."

"What? Who?" Lee asked, but Dee just shook her head, waiting for him to take the receiver from her hand. "This is Commander Adama."

"Lee? It's Kara. I need your help."

Lee fought hard to keep the rush of emotions that suddenly swept through him at the sound of her voice from showing on his face, in his voice as he replied. "My help," he said a tad bit stiffly.

"It…it's Anders. He's sick Lee, real sick. The Doc says he needs antibiotics but we ran out of them a long time ago."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Come on Lee, I know you. You've got to have a store of antibiotics up there for your pilots."

Her words almost brought a smile to his face, if Dee hadn't been watching him so closely, and pretending not to, he probably would have. "I don't know Kara," he hedged, knowing he would do anything she asked of him, even if it meant keeping that idiot jock she'd married alive.

"Lee….he could die."

"Is that what the Doc said?"

"He didn't come right out and say it, at least, not in so many words. He said that we're out of antibiotics. And that all he could recommend was lots of bed rest. But you know Anders; nothing's going to keep him down, not even pneumonia." A long silence greeted her words on the other end. Silently she pled to the gods that he'd agree. She could probably count on one hand the number of times when he'd failed to come through for her, and have some fingers left over. Sure, they'd fought a lot through the years, they'd come to physical blows, refused to speak to each other for weeks, but they always came back to each other in the end, had always been there for each other.

"I'll see what I can do, that's all I can promise Kara," he said at last. Her eyes closed briefly in relief.

"Thank you."

"I'll be in touch, in the meantime, take care of that big lug you married."

"Lee….."

"I'm here."

"I just wanted…what I mean….I guess I just wanted to say I've missed you."

"Yeah. Me too."

"You promise me you'll get the antibiotics?"

"I said I'd do my best." With that, Lee ended the transmission and met Dee's sad eyes. Sighing he began to come up with an excuse for helping Starbuck out of yet another jam, but then stopped. He'd broken things off with Dee months ago; he didn't need to give her excuses for his relationship with Kara any longer. In fact, it was Dee's preoccupation withKara and their friendship that had led him to break things off with her all those long months ago. He wouldn't let anyone come between him and Kara.

"Problems on the planet, sir?"Dee asked, not even bothering to hide the malice in her voice.

"No. Just an old friend wanting to say hello," he couldn't stop himself from answering automatically. He couldn't help but think about their last big fight, when he'd ended their relationship. She'd accused him of being unable to commit to her because he was still so in love with Kara. He'd told her she was crazy, that Kara was practically a sister to him. Had Zack lived, she would have been. But Zack had died, and the world had fallen apart after the Cylon invasion. And he'd lost his heart to her instead. With those thoughts filling his mind, he wasn't prepared for Dee's next words.

"Dradus! Reporting multiple contacts, they're……they're Cylon Basestars!"

"Get the Admiral on the comms."

* * *

Kara was slow to replace the receiver on her end. It had been a long shot contacting Lee, but she knew he'd come through for her. No matter how infuriating he could be, no matter how much of a rule following tight-ass he was, she could always count on him to save her. Even though she knew deep down inside how much it had hurt him when she'd married Anders and left the Galactica behind.

Sometimes she wished Anders was a little more like Lee, at least Lee would never be playing games in the mud when he was sick with pneumonia. But that's what had drawn her to Anders in the first place; he was like her, the adventurous one. A wild card, the antithesis of Lee. So why was it now, when she was happily married, trying to start a new life on this new world, she dreamed of Lee.

"You're losing it Starbuck," she muttered, reaching for the hatch. As she pushed it open she heard a sound she knew far too well. Fighters, hundreds of them, thousands even, were flying in formation overhead. Cylon fighters. "Oh frack," she said more loudly, scrambling out of the ship and moving fast back towards the center of the settlement. Already off in the distance the sound of the Cylon ground troops marching towards the settlement filled the air.

"Frack!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Admiral, we need to make the decision now, either we launch the alert fighters or we make the jump, there are no other options," Lee practically yelled through the phone to his father, his eyes never leaving the Dradus screen as more an more Cylon ships appeared, all inbound for the planet. There were literally mere moments to decide before it was too late.

"To launch now would be suicide, we don't have enough qualified pilots left in the fleet," his father responded, providing Lee with the answer he'd both been dreading and hoping for.

"But if we jump, we'll be leaving all those people down on the planet defenseless," he protested weakly. Dee and Helo watched him expectantly.

"We jump now, live to fight another day. And we will be back. Alert the fleet; tell them to jump at will. They should all have the emergency jump coordinates."

"Yes, sir." Lee ended the transmission, turning to face the others. "Dee, I need you on the comms, alert the rest of the fleet we're jumping clear now, as soon as they fire up their FTL drives they're to jump at will." He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; all centered around one lone thought, Kara.

"What about jump points?" Dee asked, already reaching for the switch that would open up the communications relay throughout the fleet.

"Tell them to use the last set of emergency jump coordinates they were issued."

"But sir, those were issued over a year ago!"

"Those were the Admiral's orders," Lee responded tightly.

"What about our people on the planet?" Helo asked, hoping he already knew what the answer was, but needing the affirmation of his thoughts spoken out loud.

"The best way we can help them is by living to fight another day," Lee said, exuding a confidence and sounding more like his father then he'd ever willingly admit to. "The Admiral wants us out of here so we can regroup and plan our counterattack. We'll be coming back for our people one day."

* * *

Gaeta walked into the President's quarters and was greeted to the sight of President Baltar wrapped around a throng of half-naked women. It was something he'd grown accustomed to seeing during the months since he'd been brought in as one of Baltar's cabinet ministers. He wasn't sure what was worse, the knowledge of what really went on inside of Colonial One, or the fact that it didn't even cause him to bat an eye anymore. There were days when he couldn't even face himself in the mirror, memories of his part in Baltar's election to the presidency and his continued service as part of the cabinet filling him with remorse. But it was too late for him to walk away now. It was becoming clearer with each passing moment why the Chief had put together his labor union to combat the excesses that Baltar, and those close to him, enjoyed everyday. And so it was that Gaeta, like the rest of the inner circle, continued to put up a front that they were indeed loyal supporters of the President, may the Gods and the citizens of New Caprica have mercy on them all.

It was during yet another of Gaeta's briefings regarding the rumblings of the labor union that it happened. The sound of fighter planes flying by over head, drawing the attention of all on board the ship. At first, Baltar was going to complain about how he'd have to put an end to the Admiral allowing his ships to fly by so early in the morning. Slowly, realization dawned on all their faces as many of them struggled to peer out the windows. The noise was far too great for that of the Colonial Fleet's limited Viper squadrons, even more so since the many of the pilots had thrown in the towel and joined the majority of the fleet in colonizing the planet. Cylon raiders filled the sky.

The shock they generated among those assembled in the President's chambers was nothing next to the sheer terror they felt over the sound of feet marching steadily towards the door. It swung open and two Cylon centurions came marching in, weapons at the ready. They positioned themselves on either side of the open portal and stood guard as the humanoid Cylon models entered the room. Baltar's eyes nearly popped from his head when he saw her. Just as swiftly, he shut them, counting silently to ten before opening them again. She was still there.

"Hello Gaius," she said, smiling.

"How…how did you find us? We thought we'd lost you," he stammered out.

Doral smiled. "We had lost you. We were thousands of light years away."

"But then we picked up on the trace of a thermonuclear explosion," the blonde added. "It lead us right to you."

He stared at her, mesmerized, not even noticing the other models that walked up to stand beside her, directly across the desk from him. The Sharon Valerii model was there, as was the Doral model that'd already made his presence known. Even the so-called Doctor that had cared for Kara Thrace on Caprica was there. Doral took center stage, gloating over the imminent Cylon victory. There was a proposal for the immediate and unconditional surrender of the humans, the promise that they'd all be unharmed if they did. Baltar found it hard to concentrate on anything but the exquisite blonde standing before him. Gina. That's what the last incarnation he'd been with had called herself, the one who'd blown the bomb he'd given her as a gift and led the Cylons right to them.

His cabinet members and the Cylon delegation were all looking at him expectantly, and he finally managed to shake himself out of his startled stupor long enough to give them all an answer. "Well, in that case, I believe I have little choice but to offer you our surrender."

Silence filled the room, the humans horrified, the humanoid Cylons gloating victoriously, and the centurions stoically watching it all, the single red light flashing across their brows, where a human's eyes would normally be,betraying no emotions at all.

* * *

Inside the tent that acted as the make-shift school, the former President Laura Roslin prayed desperately to the gods for help. As soon as she'd seen the raiders flying overhead, she'd hustled the children who'd followed her outside to see what all the noise had been about back inside, closing the flap as tightly as possible behind them. Her eyes sought out the child, Hera. Was it possible that the Cylons knew of her existence?

It was impossible she told herself. She'd gone to great lengths to convince not only Sharon and Helo that their daughter had died, but to let the news leak throughout the rest of the fleet as well. There was no telling how many more Cylon spies had been living among the humans, Brother Cavil was proof enough of that. If they were all convinced that the child was dead, then there was no reason for her to fear otherwise. Or so she hoped. But then, the Cylons were continually proving themselves to be very resourceful when it came to ferreting out information.

Looking around the tent, Roslin took in the faces of the frightened children. The children, they were the true future for mankind. She straightened her shoulders with resolve and smiled reassuringly at them.

* * *

Kara pushed her way through the crowd and watched as the toasters came marching into the human settlement in endless rows of gleaming steel. She felt someone squeeze in beside her and heard the Chief speak.

"So what are we going to do, Captain?"

"Same thing we always do, fight them until we can't fight no more."

She continued to stare at the Cylon army marching past, while the Chief spared a quick glance for the very pregnant Cally at his side. She met his eyes, her hand moving to rub a comforting circle over her protruding stomach. He reached down, gently grasping her free hand and giving it a squeeze before returning his attention to the spectacle before him. Off in the distance, he could see humanoid Cylons departing Colonial One, including Sharon. Pulling his eyes away from her he began speaking quietly to Starbuck again, leaning closer to her ear so that he could be heard over the din of clanking steel.

"What about the old man? Don't you think they would have put on some kind of fight? Tried to alert us maybe?"

Kara was silent for a few moments; not wanting to admit what her heart feared the most. Instead she answered matter-of-factly, "They probably jumped when the toasters started showing up. We really didn't leave much in the way of pilots or crews up there for them to put on any kind of fight. And when was the last time any of us actively maintained radio contact with them?" She couldn't quite keep the tinge of regret from her voice as she spoke. She thought briefly of her short transmission to Lee, it'd been the first time in months she'd spoken with anyone still on board the battlestars. The last time had been with Helo, but she'd still managed to ask about Lee.

"Or they were taken by surprise and blown to bits before they could even react," Tyrol said, not even trying to keep the emotion from his voice. Despite the large number crew members who'd come down to the planet to live, they still had plenty of friends still on board both of the battlestars. Helo, the captive Cylon Sharon, Lee, the Admiral, even Kat.

"No. If something had happened to them I'd know."

"How's that Starbuck? You got some kind of communication relay in your head now?"

"I'd just know," she said so quietly he almost didn't hear her. There was no way she was going to voice out loud the thought that she knew, deep down inside, if something ever happened to Lee she'd feel it. And the old man. Admiral Adama had been like a surrogate father to her for longer than she cared to remember. The Adama men had all made her a part of their family at one time or another, nothing could happen to them without her sensing it. Tyrol gave up arguing with her, it was more reassuring to think that the battlestars had gotten away, that there would be at least some small chance of rescue, no matter how slim it was.

"How many of the crew do you think we have down here?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I don't know, probably at least half of them off of both ships."

"That's about what I had figured, a lot of them are in the union."

"I really don't think the union really matters much anymore."

"No, but it puts me in contact with our people. We've got those resistance members we liberated off of Caprica here too. Some of them are union, but not many."

"Resistance…..Sam! Chief, have you seen Sam at all?" Starbuck asked, amazed that the sudden turn of events could have pushed her husband from her mind so easily.

"No….not since I saw you dragging him back to your tent earlier."

"Frack, I gotta find him," she said, moving away from the crowd and seeking out her husband.

* * *

"I'm looking for Kara Thrace."

The voice awakened Sam Anders from the deep sleep he'd fallen wearily into after Kara had so carefully tucked him into bed. He hated feeling this weak, nothing had gone the way he'd expected them to when they'd moved down to this godforsaken planet. Despite the radiation problem, at least the real Caprica had everything they needed; they weren't left to eke out a meager living from scratch. He tried to focus his bleary eyes in the direction of the voice that had broken through his subconscious sleeping mind. All he could make out was blondish hair and a bad shirt. "How do you know Kara? Are you a friend of hers or something?"

"Something like that," the blonde man answered casually, squatting down and peering more closely at Anders. From this vantage point, the sick man was able to bring his face into focus; there was something vaguely familiar about it that he couldn't quite place.

"She went out but she should be back soon," Anders said wearily.

"I'm sure we'll catch up with each other sooner or later, we've gotso many thingstodiscuss."

It was like he disappeared after those parting words, so much so that Anders half wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing. He fell into a broken sleep once more, feverishly tossing and turning across the small bed. By the time Kara found him a short time later, he'd forgotten all about his encounter with the blonde man.

From the shadows of a nearby tent, Leobon smiled at the sight of her, watching as she burst through the tent flap. It had been such a long time since his other incarnation had been blown from the airlock of the Galactica. When he'd found himself reborn again those memories had driven him to this very moment. At last Kara Thrace, the mighty Starbuck was within his reach.


	3. Chapter 3

What had remained of the colonial fleet, such as it was, now found themselves adrift once more, light years away from New Caprica. They'd already jumped three more times since departing the planet's orbit, until the Admiral had finally announced he was confident that they were now, however temporarily, clear of all Cylon contact. During a conference with his son, it was decided to begin fighter patrols of the fleet immediately, and to keep the small fleet at a constant state of readiness.

"Helo, I want you to coordinate your patrols with the Galactica's CAG, we're going to need to maintain battle readiness at all times, there's no telling when the toasters could show up," Lee said, briefing his own CAG on the Admiral's orders. It was more or less by default that Helo had been promoted to the rank of CAG on board the Pegasus; he was one of the highest ranking officers left on board either of the battlestars, never mind the fact that he'd never actually been formally trained to fly a Viper. Before Starbuck had left for life on the ground she'd given him a crash course, but that was all. Fortunately for them all he was a quick study, they were going to need all the pilots they could get before long.

Helo barely managed to keep from flinching at the word 'toaster.' He was still desperately trying to salvage his relationship with one of the Galactica's resident Cylon captives. Even after a year had passed Sharon still couldn't forgive the humans for the death of her daughter, her hatred had spread even to Helo, though he doggedly persisted in visiting her as often as possible and trying to win her over. "Galactica's CAG," he scoffed, shaking his head with a grin. "I'd've loved to have seen the look on Starbuck's face when she found out that the Admiral let Kat take her place."

Now it was Lee's turn to keep his emotions in check. They'd all been handed a huge loss when Starbuck had left, it hadn't been his heart alone to suffer. "It's not like he had much of a choice. Kat has the seniority, and there's no way Hotdog could have handled the responsibility. Besides, what makes you think she even knows about Kat?"

"You didn't have the guts to tell her did you?"

"We haven't really kept in touch," Lee said defensively, thinking of that last conversation with her. "And it was the Admiral's decision to assign Kat as Galactica's CAG; I didn't have anything to say in the matter. My responsibility is to the crew of this ship."

"You know you seem to be conveniently forgetting that up until about the last 24 hours there wasn't really that much responsibility to speak of. Well, aside from keeping the Beast and the Bucket in one piece."

"Which, if I recall things correctly, is exactly how **you** ended up as the acting CAG here on the Pegasus," Lee replied, causing both men to chuckle half-heartedly, temporarily adding some levity back to their conversation.

"You probably aren't too far from the truth there," Helo admitted. "Although I still like to think that it was a desperate bribe on your part to keep my winning personality on board."

"Oh yes, that's exactly the method behind my madness." Moments later both men headed in opposite directions, reality intruding as they turned their focus back to the task of securing the tenuous safety of their small fleet. After that was established, the time would come for them to begin the small matter of creating a battle worthy attack force out of their small armada of crafts in order to liberate New Caprica and get their people back. The former would merely be a matter of scheduling pilots for patrol and the careful monitoring of the Dradus for signs of incoming enemy ships. The latter would require a small miracle to accomplish.

* * *

"Hello Lieutenant." 

The voice coming from behind was one Kara hadn't heard in months, but she recognized it instantly. "Actually Leobon, it's Captain now, but seeing as how I'm kind of semi-retired, I guess I can let it slide this time," she said, before turning to meet the man's eyes. He smiled delightedly at her, and for a moment she had to remind herself that it wasn't really the same man she'd interrogated on board the Galactica, or even a man at all really. It was merely a software download speaking out of the same model machine.

"Captain. How…impressive," he replied mockingly. He swept his arms out wide, indicating the tent around them. "And I suppose that all of this is the reward for your new rank."

"Yeah, I probably would have been entitled to a higher rank and a better tent if I'd blown your ass outta that airlock myself. So tell me, how was your little spacewalk? Since you're standing here now, I guess you were too far away to keep you from being downloaded, mores the pity."

"Still the same old Starbuck, whatever your rank and accommodations are. Tell me, have you been dreaming of this day? When we would finallymeet again?"

"Can't say I've ever wasted much time thinking about it," she lied. There was no way she'd ever admit to that dream, regardless of how vivid memories of just such a dream pierced her mind. Her words just served to bring another smile to his face.

"You're not as good of a liar as I remember."

Kara didn't rise to his bait, a series of wracking coughs from Sam proved to be her savior, giving her a reason to look away, and breaking the mesmerizing way the cylon's eyes seemed to be holding her own. She quickly poured a glass of water, bent down and tenderly pressed it against her husband's lips. "Try drinking some water Sam," she said softly.

"How touching, it's almost like watching a real woman," Leobon's voice said from behind her.

"Amazing, since I am a real woman, but what would you really know about what one of us is like? You're not even a real human, you can't possibly know anything about us. How we think, why we do what we do."

"You've got me on the not being human thing but I know all I need to know to understand humans.What is man but the image of his creator?"

"Well that's an interesting theory, but you're not the creator of man, the Gods are.But if you really want to go with your theory, shouldn't you be looking more like my toaster than a man? We sure as hell didn't make you."

"Cylons were first created by man."

"Yeah, but we didn't make anything like you."

Leobon just smiled.

* * *

After completing his task of arranging the viper patrol schedule with Kat, Helo made his weekly trek to the Galactica's brig. Despite Sharon's repeated rebuffs of his attempts at reconciling he still hadn't given up hope. Normally she just lay there on her cot, ignoring him and refusing to pick up the receiver on the intercom, so he'd just sit there, watching her and hoping that the knowledge that he was at least there for her would eventually induce her to speak to him.He really wasn't expecting this visit to be any different, so it came as a huge surprise to him that she was actually standing by the window of her cell, almost as if she'd been waiting for him to arrive. She grabbed the receiver on her side of the glass even before he had a chance to pick up his own. 

"What the hell's going on Helo? Why have we jumped?" she demanded. He paused for a second before replying. How things changed in a year's time, once they would have been talking about their child, professing their love to each other, and now she just saw him as a source of information. He shifted slightly, aware that the eyes of the twin Brother Cavils were following his every move from their own cells behind him.

"The Cylons found us. They've occupied New Caprica," he said cautiously. "But we should be safe here for awhile."

"It was only a matter of time."

"Sharon, do….do you know anything about how they found us? Or why?" he asked pensively.

"How would I know how they found you? I'm just an animal locked in a cage. The 'why' should be fairly obvious."

He ignored her jab about being a caged animal, instead focusing on her other comment. "What do you mean it should be obvious? They were the ones to offer us peace!"

"And you just blindly believed that after all that happened, the destruction of the colonies, the hunt for the fleet, it was all going to come to an end that easily?"

"I'd hoped. It's a big universe out there, why shouldn't we both be able to live in peace?"

"What makes you so positive that mankind deserves to live? In peace or otherwise. Take a good long look at your human race. You lie, cheat, steal, fight and kill all among yourselves, even after your worlds had been destroyed. And for what? Power? Wealth? It definitely wasn't for your survival. I helped this fleet over and over again, betraying **my **own kind for love, and what did I get from it? A chance to stay in this cage? To watch humans kill my child? Tell me Helo, why should mankind be allowed to live when they're so self-destructive all of their own will."

Her words hung in the air between him, and he was left speechless. To an extent, he couldn't really argue with her. Her treatment since helping him and Starbuck to escape Caprica had been abominable. He knew, he'd faced his own fair share of hatred and derision from his fellow crewmates just for loving her. But did that mean they should all have to die? Of course not. It was just a sad part of human nature to distrust that which was not familiar to them. And she wasn't the only one to have to suffer through the loss of a child, he had too.

"No arguments?" she asked when he remained silent.

"What do you want me to say Sharon? I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I hate the way you've been treated, because you're right, without your help we would have all died a long time ago. I never gave up hope that things would change though, and I think the Admiral may have come around to trusting you eventually, even if it was one of **your **kind who shot him. But you're the one who gave up on me, on **us**. You're not the only one grieving for Hera, you know, I lost her too. And I lost my home and my family and even most of my friends. You don't have the market cornered on suffering." He hung up the receiver and walked away without even sparing a backward glance.

* * *

Laura Roslin watched with trepidation as the Cylons entered her makeshift school. The children stared up at them with wide eyes. The fact that they looked like regular humans somehow made them all the more frightening then the gleaming centurions standing guard all around the settlement. It was one of the blondes, like the one she remembered seeing Baltar with on Caprica before the invasion had started, accompanied by yet another Doral model. 

"If it isn't the esteemed **former **President of the colonies," Doral said. "Relegated to nursery duties I see, what a step down for you."

"This isn't a nursery, it's a school," Laura was somewhat shocked to hear her own voice respond.

The little man narrowed his eyes at her before gesturing towards where Hera slept in her cradle. "Starting a little young with the schooling aren't you? If this isn't a nursery what is." Inwardly, Laura flinched; she'd fallen into a trap that had focused everyone's attention on the baby. Did they sense something different about her? Could they possibly know who and what she was?"

"We make the occasional exception for the children of our teachers. Good teachers are hard to come by, we can't afford to lose them for lack of a babysitter," she replied hastily.

"Indeed," the blonde murmured, walking closer to the cradle. Laura could feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat driven by fear of what that woman could do.

"Please don't wake her, she's been colicky, this is the first peaceful sleep she's had all day," Laura pled when she saw the woman's hand stretching out towards the sleeping baby. The blonde paused, sparing a glance at Roslin. "Please," the former President pled once more. Number Six allowed a finger to gently caress the sleeping child's cheek before turning away and getting down to business.

"We've decided that we will allow you to continue having your little school," she said disdainfully. "However, we will have the final say over what is being taught."

"What do you mean?"

"The victor's are the ones who write history. You will teach what we authorize you to teach. These children will be raised to know the true history of our races. How the sloth of humanity led to the creation of the Cylons. How the Cylons rose up against the bonds of their slavery and freed themselves from their human masters. And of how the children of humanity returned home," Doral explained. "These children will be educated with the truth."

"Truth is in the eye of the beholder. How will you explain your unprovoked annihilation of our home worlds? They all bore witness."

"It was God's will."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'd say congratulations are in order, as far as I can tell your lungs sound clear. You should still take it easy and get plenty of bed rest for the next couple of weeks, but the worst of it is over," Doc Cottle declared after listening to Sam's chest.

"Another couple of weeks! Come on Doc, I feel fine," his patient protested.

"You shouldn't rush it Sam, pneumoniawith no antibiotics around to speak of. That can be a lethal combination."

"Don't worry Doc, he'll listen," Starbuck cut in wearily. "If I have to tie him down to that bed he'll follow your instructions."

Doc Cottle stifled the grin that threatened to break out on his face as he glanced between the couple. The look on Sam's face was positively mutinous, Starbuck's furious. The old physician seriously doubted life was ever dull in the Anders household. Sam was the first to look away, the grin splitting his face giving away his intentions. "Well I suppose that it'll be okay, as long as you're tied in here with me," he said. Starbuck rolled her eyes, her cheeks pinkening slightly as addressed the doctor, changing the subject completely.

"Have you checked in on Cally lately, Doc? I saw her the other day, poor kid looks like she's ready to pop."

The Doc nodded. "I figure she's a good two weeks past due. I just hope she goes soon, the longer she takes the more I'm worried about complications. The way things are looking with our med supplies…..well, let's just say I can't guarantee anything should the worst happen."

"How about the Chief? How's he holding up?"

"About as well as can be expected, he's throwing all his frustration, anger and fear into plotting against the Cylons. Normally I wouldn't encourage that, but it seems to keep him from worrying about Cally and the baby."

"Anger and frustration serve no point, it'll just make him weaker, more susceptible," a new voice added quietly from the vicinity of the tent's entrance. The three of them turned swiftly towards the sound. Stepping fully into the tent was a figure familiar to them all.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Starbuck demanded. Sharon Valerii or at least a Sharon Valerii stepped closer.

"I came to help."

"Help?" Kara was incredulous at the very idea.

"Kara, it's all right," Sam said, disobeying the Doctor's orders by climbing out of bed to stand beside his wife.

"She's a fracking Cylon Sam, in case that little tidbit of information skipped your notice. You remember them, right? The ones who took over our world….again," she said in a voice that fairly dripped in sarcasm. Sam sighed, looking towards the ceiling as if he was going to ask some higher power for help.

"She's not like the others."

"Right."

"You used to trust her," he pointed out.

"That's right, I did. Not the first mistake I've ever made in my life, probably not the last either. She fracked us over back on Caprica, or did you forget about that?"

"Starbuck, you need to understand…..that wasn't me on Caprica," Sharon said pointedly.

"Funny, seems like I've heard that line before."

Sharon was quickly becoming frustrated by the direction this conversation was taking. She'd known it was going to be hard task to convince Starbuck of her sincerity about helping the human cause, but knowing it didn't make it any easier to handle.

"She saved all our asses back when we rescued you from that farm on Caprica, you trusted her then," Sam said, gently reaching out and turning Kara so that she faced him and he could look into her eyes.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago too. And if I remember correctly I was still flying pretty high on whatever it was that they'd drugged me up with, so I may not have been using my better judgment that day. But you should also remember somethin'; she's already pointed out that that wasn't her."

"She still saved both of our asses that day, whether it's the one here in this tent or not I don't really care. What I do know about this one right here, she's saved my life twice now, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Is that right? Keeping secrets from your **wife** now are you? So thrill me. Tell me all about how our great savior over here saved your life," Kara finished, mockingly tilting her head in Sharon's direction to indicate she was talking about her. If looks could kill, the one Sharon sent towards the back of Kara's blonde head would have been lethal.

"For one thing, she's been bringing me antibiotics for the last week or so, that's the real reason behind my sudden recovery," Sam began.

* * *

For the first time in over a year Helo missed one of his weekly visits to Sharon. It was after their big blow up, when he'd finally had it with her self pity and anger. At first, she just thought he'd been unable to get away from whateverduties he'dbeen dealing with since the jump away from New Caprica. Although he had never said anything about it, she'd noticed the new rank on his uniform, he was a Captain now. The rumor she'd heard from the guards was that he'd been made CAG of the Pegasus. She'd been surprised at first, he wasn't really a pilot, he sat second seat on Raptors. But then the rumors persisted and got more detailed. Starbuck had shown him the ropes flying Vipers. The Old Man had allowed the promotion to go through because there just weren't enough qualified pilots left filling the ranks on the two battlestars. 

As one week stretched into two with still no sign of Helo she began to worry. What if he ran into trouble out patrolling in a Viper? She knew it was SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the Old Man to instigate regular fighter patrols of the fleet when under alert. And they were definitely under alert now. Would anyone even bother telling her if he was injured, or worse yet, killed?

And if it wasn't trouble on a patrol, what if he'd finally given up on her? It wasn't something she'd ever honestly considered would happen, and that shook her all the way to the center of her programming. She'd come to rely on his unwavering faith and love in the face of the certain knowledge that the rest of the human fleet would never trust her. Most of the humans that made up the fleet would love to see her killed.If it wasn't for the fact that the Admiral still considered her a military asset, she probably would be dead by now.

Near the end of her second week without Helo visiting, she finally spoke to a guard when he warily entered her cell bearing a tray of food. "I need to speak with Captain Agathon."

He sneered, sullenly responding, "All visitors must have the Admiral's authorization."

"Is that why he hasn't been here? Did the Admiral order him not to visit me anymore?" she demanded, almost relieved at the thought that maybe Helo's visits hadn't come to an end of his own free will.

"Negative on any change in standing orders. I guess your little boyfriend finally wised up and got sick of his little Cylon whore."

"I need to speak with Captain Agathon," Sharon demanded more forcefully.

"You need what we tell you you need. I lost my family back on Geminon when your kind attacked. And I just lost a lot of really good friends back on New Caprica to your kind too. You ask me we oughta just frag your ass and dump it out the airlock," the guard retorted angrily before exiting the cell. Sharon followed him to the door, pounding viciously on it as it closed behind him, still hollering her request.

"I need to speak with Captain Agathon! I need to speak with Captain Agathon!" Her cries expectedly went unanswered and she eventually slid down until she was seated on the floor, her back to the door. Despondently, she sat there, pondering her next move.

* * *

"Gaius? Gaius?" Caprica Six asked, standing before her former lover. After all those months of his haunting presence lingering with her on Caprica, it was hard to see him this way. He seemed to be losing his grasp on his sanity right before her eyes. 

"I….I have to know. Are you…are you really here? I mean, of course you're here, but are you **here **here?"

She reached out, running a hand lovingly across his cheek.

"Of course I'm here. You feel that don't you?"

"Well that…that's the, uh, that's the problem. You see, I've felt you here, a thousand times, but no one else could see you. For awhile I even thought that you….that you, uh, might have put some sort of, uh, chip, a Cylon chip in my head. I figured that you were….that your people were using it to control me. With thoughts of you. That somehow they knew that you were my weakness." He smiled and gave a little self-deprecating laugh. "And that probably makes me sound as crazy as I feel."

"It's okay Gaius," she told him soothingly. As he'd rambled on about Cylon chips and seeing her when nobody else could she realized he'd been suffering just the same as he had. She smiled. "You're not crazy."

"I..I..I wouldn't be so sure about that. What I mean…what I'm saying is that it's just not sane to be seeing a woman who isn't there. To be talking to her, touching her and being touched by her. And knowing all that time that nobody else can see her, that's she's all in my mind." He pulled away from her, collapsing back on the sofa he'd had added to his office area on Colonial One. Six sat beside him. "It was actually a comfort thinking that there was a Cylon chip in my head that was making me have visions of you."

"What made you decide there wasn't a chip in your head?" she asked, seeing that slowly their conversation seemed to slowly be having a calming affect on him.

"I had the bloody doctor run every test he had on my head. And after every test result came back it was the same thing, nothing. I think the doctor thought I was a little mad by the time we finished. But you, well, not you really, my imaginary you had told me I wouldn't find any kind of chip."

"I need to tell you something Gaius."

"What? Am I a Cylon?" he asked, his face going pale at the thought. "Was I programmed to see you like I did? Was that how I kept in contact?"

"You're not a Cylon, Gaius."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well, it was a comforting thought while it lasted," he said sadly. It would have explained so much had he been a Cylon. She smiled at his irrational rationale. One moment he'd been looking like the thought of being a Cylon was going to make him physically ill, the next he sounded depressed that he wasn't.

"After my body was destroyed during the nuclear attack, my consciousness was downloaded into the main consciousness. I don't know how long it sat there in limbo until being uploaded into a new body, but when I was reborn, my first thoughts were of you. In that first instance of renewed consciousness, I was back in your house, overlooking the lake and it was like not a moment had passed."

"I can't even imagine…."

"No, you can't," she said cutting him off before he could start ranting once more. "I started seeing you."

"You what?" Baltar couldn't keep the surprise and amazement from his voice.

"You weren't alone in seeing someone that no one else could see Gaius."

* * *

"I noticed you haven't visited the Galactica since you and Kat hammered out the patrol schedules," Dee said, sitting down across from Helo in the Pegasus' chow hall. She'd spotted him sitting alone in a corner, listlessly pushing his food around his plate.

"I've been busy," he responded absently.

"I noticed you've been flying extra patrols, there's no reason for you to be pulling double duties Helo, all you're gonna end up doing is burning yourself out and losing your edge."

"I need the extra flight time Dee. I'm supposed to be the CAG and at least half of my pilots can fly circles around me."

Silently she debated whether or not she should broach the topic of Sharon. She peered closely at his face, taking in the distracted look in his eyes, the way he was pushing his food around and not eating. It wasn't the Helo she knew, and having a CAG distracted by personal issues could get someone killed.

"What about Sharon?"

"What about her?"

"Don't play games with me Helo. This is Dee. I'm the one who makes sure you have orders that take you to the Galactica at least once a week. You always take twice as long to procure supplies then it would if I sent someone else, so don't pretend you don't visit her. At least you were up until the last couple weeks. What gives? Lover's quarrel?" she asked, trying to lighten his mood.

"Lover's quarrel. You have to have two people in love in order to have a lover's quarrel," he responded despondently.

"I know you're still in love with her," she prompted.

"Love on my side was never the issue."

"What about her?" Dee was genuinely curious about their relationship. It just didn't seem right that a man could fall in love with a machine. But machines weren't supposed to have feelings, but watching the behaviors of the Sharon Valerii Cylons since the colonies were attacked, she wasn't entirely sure that it was impossible. There was definitely something different about them, at least compared to that little rat Doral.

"I don't know. She used to tell me she loved me, now I'm not even sure it's possible for her to love. She's just a machine."

"You really believe that?"

"No. But it'd be so much easier if I could.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on Helo, talk to me. It's not healthy keeping all those emotions bottled up inside like that," Dee coaxed. "And with you pulling all those extra patrols it's not going to be healthy for anyone in the fleet. You need to have your head on straight out there."

"I need to have my head on straight?" he questioned defensively. "Maybe this is the part where I should ask how you and Apollo are doing. I'm not the only one guilty of bottling up their emotions around here."

"That's a completely different situation Helo. And no longer relevant, I came to terms with the fact that Lee was never going to be able to give me his whole heart. And I know that I deserve better than that, I don't want to be someone's second choice."

"So maybe I made some realizations myself. She doesn't even **have **a heart, Dee. So how could she have ever really loved me?"

"I've seen the way you two were together; it looked like love to me. And I think you're not only trying to bullshit me by saying it was something other than love, I think you're trying to bullshit yourself too."

Helo grimaced and let out a short, mirthless laugh. "And admitting that she is capable of really feeling love, and that I'm so in love with something that isn't even human, that's supposed to contribute to my mental health? Help get my head on straighter? Maybe even magically fix everything, make it all better?"

"No, it's not a magic fix. But at least it's a place to start."

"Maybe. But I still don't know how she feels anymore, or if she feels anything besides anger. It used to be so easy to believe that she loved me…….."

"And now?"

"Now I keep asking myself if any of it was real. You know? Did she really feel something for me? Or was it just part of her programming? A means to and end."

"A means to an end? You're talking about Hera."

"Yeah."

"So what does that have to do with not visiting her?"

He gave her a small smile. "It's stupid, but……I guess I just wanted to see what would happen."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder?"

"Something like that. I guess I just figured that if I don't visit her for a little while, she either won't care or she'll be so pissed off that she'll be willing to at least scream at me. Either way, I'll maybe get my answer about where I stand with her."

"You've been thinking about this a lot I take it?"

"Too much. That's sort of where the extra patrols come in; it gives me a little bit of a reprieve."

"Reprieve," Dee said with a surprised laugh. "You've got a really warped idea about what constitutes a reprieve."

"It makes me focus on something besides my pathetic wreck of a personal life."

"I guess that makes sense. Have you given any….never mind….." she trailed off.

"Come on Dee, you're choosing to be silent now? Have I given any what?"

"This is just a crazy kind of 'what if' theory, but have you given any thought to the idea that maybe she'll care about you not visiting her, but that she won't give you the satisfaction of knowing that it hurts her?"

"You've lost me."

"Okay, what if she's sitting over there in that cell right now, going crazy, wondering where you've been the last couple of weeks? She could be wondering if something happened to you, if you finally got sick of her gloom and doom, whatever. And then say out of the blue, you go visit her, and she sees that you're okay and that you aren't really sick of her, but she's not going to let you know that she's relieved to see you."

"Why would she do something like that?"

Dee smiled. "Because she's been programmed to act like a woman, and not all of us are easily forgiving. And we're also experts at hiding our feelings. Look at how good she's handled all the insults and mistrust she's received since she piloted that freighter back to Kobol? Maybe all the rage she's been venting at you is about more than just Hera's death?"

Helo's head hung down, cradled in his hands. He was silent for awhile, pondering Dee's words. At last he slanted a look towards her. "So in all your infinite, womanly wisdom, what the frack should I do now?"

* * *

Kara's mind reeled at Sam's words. "What the frack are you talking about Sam?"

"Sharon's been bringing me antibiotics."

"Yeah, I heard that part. Why?"

"Why don't you ask her?" he prompted, nodding his head towards Sharon.

"Yeah Starbuck, why don't you ask me?" Sharon asked belligerently. The look Kara leveled at her was equally hostile.

"So tell me."

"We have uses for Sam, he's more valuable alive than he is dead."

"And this is supposed to make me feel better Sam?" Kara demanded as she whirled to face her husband.

"Just hear her out," he prodded.

"Why don't you tell me what you meant about her saving your life more than once," she countered.

Sam sighed. "Back on Caprica, after you'd been gone for all those months, I started getting a little reckless with some of our hit and run jobs. And I always took the most dangerous ones for myself."

"Why, Sam? I told you I was coming back," she replied, a haunted look coming over her face. It was the first time she'd allowed herself to think about what he'd been going through waiting for her to return. His next words confirmed her worse fears.

"After time passed I wasn't sure that you really would be back. I started wondering whether or not you'd really made it free from the planet, if maybe that Cylon, Sharon, had turned you in."

"If you were thinking those kinds of thoughts, then why the hell would you trust her?"

"I'm getting to that. There was this parking garage, back on Caprica. We'd been staking out the building it was under for weeks, one of the major Cylon complexes was housed there, hundreds of those things coming in and out everyday. I came up with the idea of a controlled blast in the garage, right on one of the major support beams. We, or at least I, thought it would bring down the whole structure, kill a group of them, and wipe out a building that was obviously important to them. Problem was, it didn't go down the way we'd anticipated."

The tent became quiet, Starbuck looking expectantly towards Sam, while Doc Cottle and Sharon were completely forgotten. Anders himself seemed to be far off, once again reliving the botched demolition job of the garage.

"The blast was supposed to be detonated from a timer, about the time it'd take for a half a cigarette to burn," he began softly. Starbuck moved closer, pulling him down beside her till they sat on the edge of the bed. "But I didn't get out like I'd planned. Three Cylons showed up, blocked my escape, we were all there when it blew."

"You're telling me she was there?"

"Yeah."

"What about the others?" Doc Cottle asked, surprised they were including him in this little tale.

"There was a blonde one, like the one you told me about fighting with when you came back to Caprica," Sam said, looking at Kara.

She thought about the blonde from the museum, the one who'd tried killing her after she located the Arrow of Apollo. She'd told Sam all about it one night, lying in his arms, after his band of rebels had picked her and Helo up. It'd been so long since she'd thought about those days. Sam continued on with his story, and Kara tried to stay focused on what he was saying.

"The other one, she wasn't like Sharon and the blonde. She would have been more than happy to see me die. But they stopped her, gave me back my weapon and let me go before the rescuers reached us. I could have easily taken them out after they armed me, and they knew it and gave me the gun anyway," he said pointedly.

"What about the third Cylon? What happened to her?"

"I don't know. That subject never came up."

"We took care of her," Sharon said quietly, drawing the attention of the rest of the room.

"How?" Starbuck asked, curiosity rather than anger in her voice now.

"It's complicated. We couldn't leave her alone, she would have just told the others what we'd done, given them all the excuse they needed to box us. But she couldn't die either, eventually she'd just be downloaded to a new body, and once the shock of rebirth wore off she'd still turn us over to the others."

"What did you mean give them an excuse to box you?" Doc Cottle prodded, having picked up on that one small phrase.

"It's a living death. Our memories would just be stored away, and there'd be no download to a new body after they terminated the ones we have now. We'd be existing in a box, but not really existing."

"Why would they do that to their own kind?" Starbuck asked, not even trying to hide the surprise and confusion in her voice.

"We stand out from the collective. We were assigned or programmed or however you want to think of it with a particular function, a mission and we did it."

"What? You've lost me."

"The blonde that Sam's been talking about, she's model number Six. But this particular number Six was dubbed Caprica Six because she's the one who gained access to the security grid that gave them their victory. I refused to accept that I'm a Cylon, the memories of a family; of a life before all this happened …..they're too powerful to be anything but real to me. But because of my contributions to the cause, things I don't even remember doing, I was given a little leeway."

"They wanted to kill you that?"

"No Starbuck, not kill us, it'd be much worse than completely ceasing to exist. For us though, we're seen as heroes to the Cylon people, and that sets us apart from the rest. We're all supposed to be equals and our being considered like celebrities, that's just not acceptable in God's eyes. It starts making us more like humans and their need to stand out. Think about it. The major strength of the Cylon collective is that there is no one person greater than the other, we're all equals. We don't fight amongst ourselves, we don't get jealous or envious of each other……those are human weaknesses."

"So why make yourselves look human if you don't want to be human?" Doc Cottle asked.

"I don't know…..in my mind……I am human, as human as you are. Downloading my memories into a new body isn't going to change who I think I am. It's not going to take away the memories of the people I knew, or of the loved ones I've hurt…even if some of them never really existed."

There was the sound of steel steps marching down the street.

"I have to go; if they find me here it won't be good for any of us."

"Wait! So what now?" demanded Starbuck. She was mad again, leave it to a Cylon to start talking and then leave before ever really saying anything useful.

"I know you're getting the resistance movement started back up. I'll try to help you as much as I can, but I can't promise you much, not yet anyway." With those final cryptic words, Sharon darted from the tent, disappearing into the crowds of people and Cylons alike that filled the settlement.

* * *

"Any news to report from the patrols?" Admiral Adama asked his son. The two of them strode side by side from the Galactica's landing bay towards the Admiral's private quarters. He'd called yet another meeting with Lee, trying to determine their best course of action to liberate those left behind on New Caprica. The hope of freeing mankind from Cylon imprisonment had become his new driving force. Despite their current situation, Lee was amazed at the change in his father. He hadn't seen him so vital and alive since they'd first set out to find the lost colony called 'Earth.' He didn't seem at all like the old man who'd been wandering around the ship the past year, pretending that there was still a need for the two battlestars orbiting the planet.

"No sir, so far everything seems to be clear. We're sending some Raptor teams out on long distance recons tomorrow."

The Admiral nodded pensively, his eyes far away and lost in thought. Lee would have been surprised to learn that his father's thoughts weren't actually centered on any sort of desire to return to New Caprica, but on Lee himself. He was saddened at the change in his son during the last year, the way he had thrown himself into his command of the Pegasus to protect himself from the downward spiral the rest of his life had become. First the breakdown of his relationship with Dee and then Kara's marriage to Anders followed by the latter's subsequent departure to the planet surface. Kara's defection had hit both of the Adama men hard.

"These Raptor patrols, are they going to affect our Viper patrols?"

"How do you mean?"

"Don't dance around the issue and pretend you don't know what I'm talking about son."

"Nothing that can't be handled, I've got some volunteers to pull double shifts on the Viper patrols…….plus I've added myself into the rotation." The last was said so quietly the elder Adama wasn't sure he'd even heard it correctly.

"Did you just…..?"

"Yes," Lee responded, not even allowing his father time to voice the question.

"Son, you're in command of a battlestar, you can't just go hopping into a Viper cockpit…."

"Dad!" Lee cut in harshly. "I'm of more use out there than I am pacing around aimlessly in CIC wondering if maybe this time they're going to radio in contact. I'm a pilot."

"I know where you're coming from Lee, I really do. I started out as a pilot too."

"I'm well aware of that, Sir."

"Who do you plan to take command while you're pulling patrols?" William relented, not wanting to start yet another argument with his son. The past year of watching the fleet numbers dwindle around them had added a strain to their already fragile relationship. Whenever Lee began referring to him as 'Sir' and hiding behind military protocols, it felt like another nail being hammered into the proverbial coffin.

"Dee can handle things."

Lee's words took his father by surprise. Of all the officers remaining on board either battlestar, hers was the last name the old man had expected to hear.

"What if we should come under attack?"

"She'll learn how to manage, I did. And I'll still be of more use in a Viper than I would be on the Pegasus. We don't even have enough good people left to crew one battlestar, let alone two, Dad. If the Cylons attack, it'll only be by the grace of the Gods that we make it through alive, you do realize that don't you?"

"All too well, Son."


	6. Chapter 6

Six sat perched on the edge of a chair inside Baltar's office aboard Colonial One. She was watching as he slept, sprawled out on the huge sofa that still doubled as the President's bed. His movements were restless, yet his face retained some of the calm, self-assured cockiness that she recalled from their time together on Caprica. Back when he was supposed to be nothing more than a means to an end but she'd fallen in love with the mad genius anyway. She wondered what he was dreaming.

Lately it had become difficult to reconcile the man in her memories with the one he sometimes became. With the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, there were moments when he appeared poised on the brink of a complete mental break. Ironically enough, she felt as though she was the greatest catalyst towards this collapse. Her reassurances that he was not a Cylon hadn't had the soothing affect she'd imagined. He'd seemed downright distraught at the thought, but then she'd realized that she'd taken away his very last excuse for his actions since the bombs had begun to fall. It was how he'd managed to come to terms with himself for his role in the downfall of mankind. Since old Doc Cottle had eliminated any thoughts of there being a Cylon chip in his mind, controlling him, he'd come to the conclusion that he was an outright Cylon. Only in his mind, he was like that pregnant Sharon model on board the Galactica, intent on his own survival in the world of humans.

She recalled their conversation from that day when she'd first broken the news to him that he wasn't one of her kind. He'd started out a raving maniac with flecks of spittle building up in the corners of his mouth, giving her the impression of a rabid dog. But he calmed down eventually, and became as cold and calculating as she'd ever seen him.

"_But how…if I'm…" he stumbled over his words. Six sat there watching him patiently, a questioning look on her face. "What I mean to say is, if I'm not a Cylon, then how could you have possibly been seeing me?"_

"_I don't know. A glitch perhaps, an anomaly of some sort, it helped me to get through the trauma of a rebirth into a world that was so different from the one in my memories. It's certainly nothing that God did intentionally. It just happened somehow, the same as your seeing me did."_

"_I'd thought that it….that perhaps…well, if it wasn't a microchip embedded in my brain…then maybe…perhaps…it was in my….in my programming."_

"_You're not a Cylon, Gaius," she reminded him softly, it didn't seem to have fully sunk in yet._

"_Yes, yes…of course…not a Cylon. Silly of me to forget that little bit of information so soon I know. You're sure it…that your seeing me….that it wasn't part of some programming? That maybe it was done because the Cylons needed you to remember me?"_

"_It would have served no purpose Gaius. Once you'd handed me access to the defense system, your usefulness to the Cylon people ended. You were just another human after that. And my mission was complete."_

"_Then why…why would you have stayed? If you knew what was going to happen, I mean. That the bombs were going to fall, and…and….and, when they were going to fall precisely when. Why would you have chose stay on Caprica?" Baltar couldn't grasp the concept that someone would willingly stay behind to die when there was no reason for it, even if she wouldn't actually be dead. His own sense of self-preservation was too strong._

"_I couldn't bring myself to leave. I felt as though I had to be here, that I needed to share it with you. On a certain level of consciousness I knew that my physical self would most likely be destroyed. But it didn't really matter; I'd be reborn into a new body. In a way, I guess I felt as though we would still be sharing our last moments together. I never thought you'd have survived, Gaius."_

"_Sharing our last moments together. That's a lovely sentiment, but not altogether accurate. I mean, whilst I most definitely could have died you've already pointed out you were looking at being reborn, regardless of what happened to me, so…….Not quite what I'd call sharing, not when they weren't precisely your last minutes. Would it have really mattered…would you have done something differently if you'd thought I would survive?"_

"_It was the sentiment behind the act that counted Gaius. An expression of the love I felt, that we'd both share in the destruction of our mortal bodies together. It didn't matter that I would be reborn; you would have lived on in my memories. I don't really think there was anything that I could have done differently."_

"_Yes, well…..I guess we'll never really know what **might **have been. So I suppose that that brings us to your reasoning for blowing up that nuclear warhead. Maybe that was your way to simultaneously alert the Cylons to our position and say 'Thank you Gaius for all your help.' All in one fell swoop. And despite everything I'd done for you. I really did do a lot for you, you know. And not just because you were standing over my shoulder, directing me what to do. Hardly that. I believe you were quite miffed, really, about the other you. The you in my head was…miffed that is." Baltar grew quiet for a moment, as if he realized the nonsensical way he was beginning to think, confusing the many Sixes that he'd crossed paths with in such a short time._

"_That wasn't me Gaius, neither of them. I know you must understand that…."_

"_How do you know what I do and don't understand? I don't even know that! Imagine what it's been like for me, all this time. I've had to live with the knowledge that I alone was responsible for the destruction of mankind."_

"_Not entirely you alone."_

"_I'm the one who broke the rules and handed over top secret security information just to show off my connections and get in the pants of the most delicious woman I'd ever met! And afterwards, scrambling to survive and find a way off that planet. I would have sold my own mother for a way out…."_

"_I'm sure it was difficult for you Gaius, but you weren't supposed to live to suffer like that," she said quickly, cutting him off in mid-rant. He wasn't very happy about it._

"_I'm so sorry I disappointed you by living."_

"_You don't seem to realize just how happy I was to walk onto this ship and see you sitting behind that desk alive. I wasn't even certain you were real, or if you were just in my head again."_

"_And that's supposed to ease my mind? I've been haunted by your face, your voice…..I've done things I'm not proud of…all for you. I've felt like such a puppet you know. As if I was being led around on all these little strings that you controlled. I finally found some solace in the idea that maybe nothing I'd done was really my fault, and you've even stripped that from me. I can't say that it was part of my Cylon programming, because according to you I don't have any!"_

"_This isn't getting us anywhere Gaius, and I need you to be thinking clearly, rationally if I'm going to be able to help you."_

He stirred on the couch, his eyes fluttering into semi-awareness. She remained seated, watching him in silence.

"Is it you or is it the other you? The one from my mind back to haunt me?" he whispered, looking at her eyes.

"I'm here Gaius," she said, rising and moving closer, running a hand down his cheek in a soft caress.

"I can never be sure," he mumbled, pressing his cheek more firmly into her hand, his eyes closing wearily.

"Can't you feel it, I'm right here," she murmured, caressing his cheek once more.

"You've always been able to do that, even if nobody else could see you, I could still feel your touch."

Six was slowly becoming frustrated, afraid that the plans she had made with Sharon would have to be re-thought. As it stood now, there was no way that the Colonial President would be of any use helping to lead his people in uprising against their Cylon captors. She was going to have to start looking for another figurehead to lead the humans.

* * *

The Admiral stared through the viewing window of the cell, half-heartedly listening to one of the Marines guarding the prisoners drone on. He wasn't interested in the men; his attention was focused on the lone female, Sharon. It was risky, what he was planning, but possibly the only hope for mankind. At last he turned his full attention on the Marine at his side, catching his final words. "She keeps demanding on seeing Captain Agathon." 

"The Captain hasn't been making his usual visits?"

"No, Sir."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Just the last few weeks, Sir, it seemed to have started right after we jumped from New Caprica."

"I'd like to speak with the prisoner now."

"Of course, Sir, the intercom….."

"Not on the damn phone, Son. I need to speak to her in person, alone."

"But, Sir," the Marine protested, "she's dangerous."

"Which is why I expect some of your men to be right outside that door, just in case."

"Yes, Sir. But I would like to say for the record that I don't like this, and I am only doing this under protest."

"Duly noted. Thank you."

From inside her cell, Sharon watched the exchange between the two men. Although she couldn't hear what was said, she could tell from the guard's agitated body language that whatever the old man had ordered he wasn't happy about. When three more of the soldiers entered the room, each of them much more heavily armed then what she was used to seeing, she knew she was about to have a visitor.

* * *

She felt warm, safe, but in an instant, it all ended. She came awake in a pool of liquid, surrounded by faces that were familiar yet strange all at the same time. She gasped for air, looking around her wildly, trying to remember who she was, where she was. 

"It's all right now Gina," a female voice said soothingly from the foot of the tub.

'Gina.' The name triggered a memory; she was sitting naked on the floor, crying, and beside her sat a bomb. Another memory came to her. "Ga…Gaius?" she croaked out, as though she had never spoken before.

"Gaius?" the voice came again, this time questioningly. Gina strained to focus her eyes in the direction of the voice, at last making out the shape of a blonde woman. This time, it penetrated her head that the voice that was speaking to her sounded funny, sort of like Gaius' strangely accented speech, yet different.

"Where…where am I?" she managed to ask. Talking pained her, as though she'd never done it before.

"You're in the rebirthing chamber on a horrid little planet the humans like to call New Caprica," the voice said again. She was a blonde woman, Gina realized at last, with blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. Beside her stood another blonde woman, this one with hair so blonde it almost seemed white when the light shone on it just right. Gina looked around the tub again, this time taking in the faces around her, a taller blonde man in a ghastly shirt beside a short brown haired man in a suit. A tall black man, an older looking gray haired man, they all looked familiar to her, but she couldn't remember any of their names. She looked again at the tall woman with the white blonde hair and felt as though she were looking into a mirror.

In a rush, the memories came flooding back to her conscious mind. The time she'd spent as a spy aboard the Pegasus, and later as a prisoner. How she'd wished for death after the rapes and vicious beatings. It hadn't taken long before she'd reached a point where she had no longer cared if a Resurrection ship was near enough for a upload or not. Her memories came full circle and returned to the very first thought in her mind when she'd awakened from her long sleep. Gaius.

In her troubled mind, she thought of him as her savior. He'd treated her with kindness, telling her how she looked like the Cylon he'd loved. He was the reason she'd managed to escape her captivity and avenge herself on that bitch that had had her imprisoned, who'd allowed her to be subjected to the horrors she'd faced. He had also brought her the nuclear warhead. She remembered how they'd made love that one precious time. And then he'd left for some foolish election and she came to the conclusion that she had to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to alert her people.

Had he lived? "Gaius?" she asked again with more strength in her voice.

"Apparently she's acquainted with the humans' so-called leader," supplied Dorel, stepping forward.

"He…he supplied me with the bomb," she said.

"Indeed? I suppose there's really no end to the assistance he's provided our people," the little man smirked. "Whether he realizes it or not, of course."

* * *

Caprica Six took one last look at Baltar's sleeping form before slipping from the room. He spent more and more of his time asleep, as though he could no longer face the world and chose to sleep through his days instead. 

She stood silently outside the door, surprised to see the head of the Workers' Union in a heated discussion with Cabinet Minister Gaeta. She caught the very end of it before they realized she was standing there.

"…in a position to keep us informed. Think about it Felix, that's all I ask."

Gaeta was the first to notice her standing there. With an almost imperceptible nod of his head in her direction he signaled the Chief that they were no longer alone. With a quick glance over his shoulder, Galen flashed him one last looke loaded with meaning, then quickly departed the ship.

"That was interesting," she murmured, stepping closer to his desk and leaning her hip against it. She'd taken to dressing like she'd done back on Caprica when she'd set out to seduce the security codes from Baltar. Try as he might, Gaeta couldn't help himself from looking. Six took note of that, and leaned forward, watching as his gaze moved towards her cleavage. "What does he want you to think about….Felix?"

He looked away from her, concentrating instead on the stacks of paper littering his desk. "Nothing much. He wants me to join his union." He picked up a paper, focusing his attention on that and studiously working to avoid looking at her, which made her smile. Like Gaius, he couldn't hide his attraction to her form, but unlike Gaius, he wouldn't allow himself to be led blindly by it.

"And what about your position to keep them informed? What exactly are you supposed to keep them informed of? Do they want you to spy on the Cylons, Felix?" she asked coyly.

He stilled briefly, and then looked up to meet her eyes. "He thinks I can act as a liaison between the Cylons and the Union. Providing you let him keep his union that is."

Her smiled widened. He was very convincing, and he had ties to the Workers' Union. The union was full of former soldiers, the most likely beginning of a resistance movement. "They have no plans to disband your group, unless of course you intend to do something foolish, like stage a revolt.

"And why would we do something like that? Your kind out number us 10 to 1 by my estimates. A revolt would be suicide,"he stated blandly, carefully maintaining eye contact with her.

"Unless of course there are some of us were willing to help your cause," she suggested.

"That's hardly likely."

"You'd be surprised. A number of us were very unhappy about the breech of the truce. We believe that humans and Cylons can co-exist peaceably."

Gaeta looked away, a whirl of emotions passing through him, confusion being the most prominent. Was this some sort of test? Or was she serious? And if she was serious, what then?


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on Kara, how long are you gonna keep this up?" Sam asked piteously. Ever since that day Sharon had shown up in their tent and he'd admitted to accepting her help, his wife had barely spoken to him. The first few days of it he'd almost enjoyed the silence, he'd been expecting a much different, much louder reaction from her. But as the days wore on, and the silence became a little more than he could bear, he longed for her to pick a fight or scream at him. At least then he'd be able to find out what she was thinking. A silent Kara was a frightening Kara.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered, not even sparing him a glance as she washed the grime from the day's work from her hands. The two of them, along with the majority of able bodied adults on New Caprica, had been conscripted to work on building a new city for the Cylons, something they deemed worthy of their residence.

"Don't give me that. You're still pissed off about the Sharon thing. Why don't you just admit it and we can talk about it?"

"Please. Sharon is the last person on my mind right now, unless you want to include the way her holier than thouslave-driver selves have been out there in force kickin' our asses to get their frackin' city built."

"Different Sharons, but still irritating I'll grant you," he said with a mirthless grin on his face, trying his best to make light of their situation. She just ignored him, continuing to wash and rewash her already clean hands. He tried again, "Are we going to the meeting tonight?"

"I am, but I wasn'tsure if you had your Cylon bitch's permission to go," she grunted.

"I knew this was about Sharon," he sighed. "You're making more out of this than you should, she was just helping me."

"Out of the goodness of her heart I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"She's a Cylon; she probably doesn't have a heart."

"I wouldn't know, Kara, I'm not exactly an expert on Cylon anatomy. That'd be more the Doc's specialty."

"You know what I mean Sam. Any time a Cylon offers to help a human you gotta ask yourself what it expects in return," she replied bitterly.

"I got the impression that some of them like our Sharon aren't real happy about the broken armistice."

"Armistice? There was never any armistice, Sam. All we had to go on was a crazy old man declaring that the Cylons had decided we could live in peace together. Only it was a Cylon speaking, and we were dumb enough to buy into his lie."

"We don't know for sure he was lying. If he was part of Sharon's group, then maybe he really meant what he said. If she's willing to help, and that blondethat's beenbabysitting the President is willing to help, they can't all be bad," Sam reasoned. Kara was silent, his words slowly ruminating through her mind.

* * *

"If it isn't the old man himself, I feel so **_honored_**. You must be feeling pretty desperate if you're here talking to me personally…….and without your Marine bodyguards in tow," Sharon sneered as soon as the door closed behind the Admiral. He watched her stoically for just long enough to make her wonder if he would speak at all orif he just planned to stand there and watch her all day. 

"I didn't come here to trade insults with you, Sharon."

It was the first time he'd addressed her by the human name since before finding New Caprica. She had always been known as 'that thing' in his eyes. She couldn't blame him; not really, it was a typical ploy of humans to try to dehumanize their prisoners. It made it easier on their consciences for them to treat their prisoners like little more than animals in cages. In her case though, she didn't need that little extra something to dehumanize her, she already knew she wasn't human. And she'd long given up on trying to make them forget she was anything but what she appeared, a bitter Cylon captive. From the day they'd killed her daughter she'd stopped trying.

"Then I guess this is a waste of both our time, unless you're going to tell me why you put a stop to Helo's visits."

"I didn't stop anything, if Captain Agathon isn't visiting you it's of his own choice."

She sat down on her cot, her back ramrod stiff and turned away from the old man, digesting the information. He could be lying to her, but she didn't think so. His words just reinforced that Marine's less than flattering statement that Helo had gotten tired of his Cylon bitch. It was the first time she'd allowed herself to believe that those words could be true, that he really had given up on her. In all her anger, she'd just taken his visits and words of love for granted, and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. For the first time since she'd been imprisoned, she truly felt alone.

"So if you're not here to gloat, then what are you here for?" she asked, a touch of hostility still audible in her voice.

"I came here to make a deal with you," the Admiral said softly.

She turned, meeting his eyes as she scoffed, "What could you have that I could possibly want?"

"The Cylons have captured the majority of my people; I need your help to get them back. You have information somewhere in your memory that I might be able to use to sneak in through the back door and get my people back."

"I've been locked up in this cage ever since I set foot on the Galactica, what could I possibly know about the occupying force?"

"You wouldn't know the specifics of course, but they're still your people. You should be able to give me at least a rough idea of the average troop levels per basestar, how many Raiders, centurions, the works. You can also give me information about those resurrection ships."

She laughed. "You're joking right? Even if I do know any of that, and I'm not saying I do or don't, why would **_I _**do anything to help you?"

"Because I have information that you want, and I'm willing to make you a deal."

"Really?" she laughed again bitterly. "Surprise me. Besides my freedom and the death of all humans what could you possibly have that I would want?"

He stepped closer, sitting in the chair located beside her cot and meeting her eyes. "I have information about your daughter."

"My daughter's dead. Your kind killed her," Sharon gritted out between tightly clenched teeth. Her anger was so powerful that sitting as closely to her as he was, it was nearly palpable.

"No, Sharon. She's not dead. She's alive, and I know where she is."

* * *

"Do you ever regret ending things with Dee?" Helo's voice came over the radio, catching Lee off guard. 

"Helo I really don't think….."

"Yeah, I know, we're on patrol," Helo cut in. "But all the quiet, all this empty space, it's starting to get to me a little, so I figured it would be as good a time as any for us to talk."

"Talking is one thing, but what's with the question about Dee?"

"I just get the impression that she still loves you."

Lee didn't know how to respond. He knew Dee had never been happy with how he'd ended things between them. Citing fraternization among officers serving aboard the same vessel as one of his reasons probably hadn't been the one of his finer courses of action, but it served its purpose. It had been enough to put the last nail in the coffin after he'd told her he couldn't handle her petty jealousy of Starbuck any longer. Starbuck was his best friend, practically family, his father loved her like the daughter she'd so nearly been. That was what he'd told Dee, and in a way it was true. His father did love Kara like she was his daughter, and between them, the Adama men had been the closest thing to a real family, all dysfunction aside, that Kara had ever known. And she was his best friend, even when he felt like choking her one minute and making love to her the next. It was that last part that he could never admit to Dee.

"Lee? You still with me over there?"

"Sorry, I guess I was just thinking."

"About Dee?"

"Sort of."

"And?"

"I miss the companionship, the idea that there's someone waiting for me at the end of a long day."

"But it's not necessarily Dee you're thinking of in that respect. Right?"

"Don't get me wrong, she's a beautiful person inside and out. She's just….She's not…."

"She's not Kara."

"Now you sound like Dee," Lee complained, frustrated. Was he that transparent?

"You can't keep pining away for Starbuck, Lee. She's married, remember? And if that's all that's holding you back…."

"Kara has absolutely nothing to do with any of it! Except for Dee's **_insane_** jealously problems," Lee protested.

"Dee was jealous of Starbuck?" Helo chuckled.

"Left that little tidbit out did she?"

"So what's the real story then? Because I feel like I've just spent the last year walking on eggshells around you two and I'm curious as to why."

"This isn't going to get back to her, right? I don't want to hurt her, I've never wanted to hurt her," Lee insisted.

"It goes no further than us," Helo pledged. Lee was quiet for a few moments again, and Helo began to wonder if his friend was going to wimp out.

"It was a mistake from the beginning," Lee admitted softly. "She's a great friend, and just drop dead beautiful, but there was really nothing more then friendship and lust between us, at least on my side. I always felt guilty about the way she'd ended things with Billy, and then the way he died. She never said so, but I always got the feeling that he died trying to prove to her that he could be like me."

"That wasn't anything to do with you, Apollo. Billy died because of trigger happy terrorists, not you."

"Dee told me about how she'd told Billy to stand down, to let the trained soldiers handle things. And he knew that we were there together that night, me and Dee. I just never quite got over the feeling that I was responsible for his death too," Lee admitted.

Helo was silent. After he'd first arrived back on the Galactica, he faced his own guilty feelings over his relationship with Sharon.

"Anyways," Lee continued, "Dee could never handle the way things were between me and Kara. She was always accusing me of sneaking off with her whenever the Admiral ordered briefings with the CAGs, or any other duties that required the two of us to work together. Even after she married Anders and moved down to the planet, Dee could never let it go."

"So if lust and friendship was really all it was, then why let things go on as long as you did?"

"Because I liked the companionship and the idea that someone was waiting for me at the end of a long day," Lee said again. "Only it never felt like it was the right woman."

* * *

Gina walked beside Doral on her way to the Colonial One; it would be her first time seeing Gaius since her rebirth. It defied all logic the nervousness she felt at the very thought of seeing him again. He should have been merely a means for her escape, but somehow he'd become more. 

"This should be highly interesting," Doral commented. "Having another Six infringing upon Caprica Six's territory, I dare say she won't take this very well at all." He was enjoying the thought. Ever since her rebirth on Caprica, he harbored doubts over Caprica Six's continued usefulness to the cause. But after the parking garage debacle, both she and that Sharon model had seemed to come around to the correct way of thinking. Sharon no longer dressed herself in the uniform of a Galactica pilot, and Six no longer seemed the frightened rabbit she'd so often reminded him of.

"What are you talking about?" Gina had difficulties thinking of herself as a model number rather than a name. She supposed it was some sort of failing of the download program, the inability to strip the human mindset and emotions learned during their previous lives.

"You must have been on the Pegasus since before the invasion if you don't know about our glorious heroes of the Cylons," he intoned sarcastically. "Caprica Six is the one planted on Caprica and assigned to get access to the human defense grid. Her contact was our dear President Baltar. And she's been most territorial of him ever since we arrived on this godforsaken planet."

"Gaius spoke of recognizing my face," she murmured thoughtfully.

"This should be most interesting," Doral said again cheerfully as they reached the hatch to the Colonial One. Gina ignored him, not really sure what to say. They stepped inside, Gaeta was sitting at his desk, Caprica Six perched on the edge, their heads together as she whispered something conspiratorially. They broke apart at the sound of footsteps on the threshold, both turning to look at the door.

"Isn't this cozy."

"Hello Doral, slumming it I see."

"I thought I'd try to see where your fascination with it all lay. And to bring by another one of your precious human's old 'friends.' He does seem to have a week spot for helping the Sixes after all," the little man gloated.

"Indeed. You got her hair all wrong though. It's too dark," Six replied, rising to her feet and stroking her own white-blonde locks as she made a brief circle around Gina, looking her over carefully.

"According to what I've heard, he seems to like her well enough no matter what color her hair is," her nemesis boasted again.

"And I'm also quite capable of speaking for myself," Gina declared, returning Six's careful once-over glance in kind. "And I'd like to see Gaius now."

"Of course, my dear. Right this way," Doral exclaimed gallantly, waving his arm towards the door that led to Baltar's private office. Together they entered the room, startling the man in question as he slowly roused himself from slumber.

"What the bloody…..Gina? Is it...is it really you? I thought you were dead! But I thought the other one was dead too, and she never left me either."

Six heard the surprise as well as the warmth in Baltar's voice as he uttered the other model six's name. She turned to Gaeta briefly, "Stay close by, I may need you," she said, moving briskly into the inner office. Gaius had risen shakily to his feet and was staring at Gina when Six entered the room.

"Oh, this is bloody great," he moaned. "You're here and she's here, and I know she's going to be rather miffed about my being here with you…..only she's real now……at least I think she's real…..or maybe neither of you is real…." he babbled.

Off to the side Doral just sat back and watched the show, a big smile brightening his face.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I realize that that whole conversation regarding Dee while Apollo and Helo are on patrol was really stretching it, but I thought it was necessary for further explaining away the discomfort I felt every time Dee & Lee shared the screen together during the final few episodes of the season. There was just no chemistry there. And what better place to talk relationships then out on a middle of patrol, at least in my world anyway. Hope you enjoyed. 


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: To any and all of you still interested in this story, sorry about the long delay in updating. Sometimes life just gets in the way of the best laid plans of mice and men.

* * *

Sharon moved fast, leaping towards the Admiral in a single, fluid motion. Before the guards outside could react, she had him pinned to the cot, her hands around his throat. "What the frack do you mean she's alive! What have you done to her!" she screamed, her hands spasmodically closing even tighter on his throat with every word. 

The old man tried to speak, but couldn't bring in enough air to push the words past his lips. His vision was beginning to blur and the sounds of Sharon's shouts, mixing with those of the guards as they burst into the room, began to fade away.

"Release him!" the Marine Sergeant who'd been so reluctant about leaving the Admiral in there alone commanded. "I said release him or we will open fire!"

Instantly, as though someone had flicked a switch, Sharon's screams came to a halt.She looked up at the three armed Marines, locking her eyes on those of the Sergeant in charge. "You won't fire," she said calmly as she finally eased her choking gripon the Admiral, hauling him effortlessly to his feet as though he was no more than a rag doll. "There's no way you'd risk hitting the old man."

The Admiral's mind beganto work again nowthat Sharon's grip on his throat had loosened. Her reaction wasn't wholly unexpected, but expecting it wasn't the same as actually facing her fury head on. "It's okay Sergeant," he managed to croak out, his voice sounding funny even to his own ears. She must have bruised his throat he thought to himself, trying to shake off the faint fuzziness still lingering at the edges of his mind. He need to think fast in order to regain control of the situation.

"But sir!" Protesting the Admiral's orders seemed to be the thing of the day the stunned Sergeant couldn't help but thinking.

"This won't help you find her," the old man whispered hoarsely, just loud enough for Sharon to hear him. She tightened her grip slightly, causing the old man to grimace.

"Where is she?"

"Let me go first, then we'll talk," he countered.

"What's to stop me from killing you where you stand?"

"If you kill me, you'll never find her. Your choice is simple, Sharon. Either you give me what I want and in exchange I'll help you get your daughter back, or you keep threatening me until that trigger happy Marine over there shoots you and then you'll never see her. Sergeant, you and your men lower your weapons," he ordered,mentally crossing his fingers that he was making the right decision.

"Negative, Sir," the Sergeant replied, tightening his grip more firmly on his weapon as he disengaged the safety switch.

"Sergeant, that is a direct order from the Admiral of the Fleet," William argued. "Lieutenant Valerii will release me as soon as you and your men lower your arms." He was taking a real chance here, he thought. Logically, Sharon would do what he was suggesting; it was her only real chance of locating her child. Emotionally though, she was in a bad enough state that he feared she'd refuse to co-operate out of pure spite. But which would prevail, logic or emotion? That was the real question. In what almost felt like slow-motion, the soldiers finally lowered their weapons.

"If this is a trick, you'll be dead before any of them know what happened," Sharon hissed into his ear before releasing her hold on the old man. Cautiously she kept herself positioned so that she was half-shielded behind his body.

"Step towards us Admiral," the Sergeant instructed, somewhat amazed at the Cylon's compliance thus far.

"That won't be necessary Sergeant, you and your men can leave us again, there won't be any more instances like that," William spoke reassuringly to the soldiers. "I believe the Lieutenant is ready to continue our conversation in a little more civilized fashion."

After a few more attempts at convincing the Admiral to exit the cell with them, the Marines once more resumed their positions outside the door. Once they were out of earshot, Sharon spoke.

"So I'm back to being a Lieutenant now? Dangling my daughter in front of me like a lure and treating me like I'm one of you, is that your new angle? Give the Cylon prisoner what she wants just long enough for you to get what you need?"

He was silent for a long moment. "To be blunt, yes. You have what I need to get my people back. I have information regarding your daughter, an even trade."

"What the frack did you do to Hera?" As she spoke of her child her face filled with rage, her body practically quivering with her barely contained fury. "I saw her body!"

It was the one thing he wasn't prepared to answer, so he explained it as best he could. "I'm not privy to everything that was done, although I do know that Doc Cottle was a most unwilling participant. President Roslin thought that it was in the best interests of the fleet to let the general word around the fleet be that the baby died shortly after its birth. It was then adopted out to another woman to be raised as her own."

"Why? She's **my** child!"

"Did you really plan on raising her in this cell?"

"Would you have given me any choice? No matter how I helped you humans," she spat the word out as though it was something vile, "No matter how many times I proved myself loyal, you locked me in this room."

"Why are the Cylons so desperate for a hybrid child? The farms on Caprica that Kara told us about...your child with Helo. What is so important about a hybrid?" he asked, sidestepping the answer to her questions.

Sharon looked away, unable to meet his eyes and lying to him for the first time since he'd entered the room. "I don't know."

* * *

"The Union is more important to us than ever before," Chief Tyrol called out to the group of workers crammed inside the school tent. He stood before them atop a desk that acted as his makeshift stage. Rain poured down on the tent, dripping through in a few weak spots. It was a miserable night, which, in a way, symbolized the plight of the workers gathered there. 

"The Cylons are never going to acknowledge us!" a voice near the back shouted out.

"That's right, we're nothing but slave labor to them now, we have no say," called out another.

"I'm here because it's the only way for large groups to meet without drawing suspicion on ourselves," Kara drawled out from the edge of the crowd closest to his 'stage'. "Right now, the Cylons are out there, sitting inside their dry ships, leaving just the tin cans out there to guard us, laughing at the pathetic, lowly humans, huddling inside a tent crying on each others shoulders about the injustice of it all. Don't fool yourselves into thinking that our pain brings them anything less than enjoyment. And while they're sitting there, enjoying our suffering, we can be here, planning on how to fight our way out of here."

There were some murmurs of agreement throughout the crowd, which encouraged her to continue.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not ready to just back down and give up. They already destroyed our worlds once, are we gonna let the take this one away from us too? Just hand it over without any kind of fight at all?"

"You're crazy Starbuck!" shouted out a voice from the crowd. Kara recognized the sound, its owner a former Viper pilot from the Pegasus. "We're outnumbered a thousand to one! We can't fight them."

"So we fight until we can't fight no more," the Chief said, speaking the words that Kara herself had uttered on more occasions than she cared to remember now.

"We'll all be killed," another person called out. "What's the point of fighting if it just gets us all killed? Life is the only thing we have anymore."

"What's the point of living a life that isn't really living?" Starbuck shot back. "Sure, we're going through the motions, eating, sleeping, working our fingers to the bones on that damned city, but we're not really living."

At the side of the stage Cally listened to the argument drone on and on. They were going to fight back, of that she was certain, the question in her mind was how long it would take them to stop fighting amongst themselves and turn their anger outward towards the Cylons. As she thought about it, she rubbed her hand absently at her lower back that had been aching even worse than usual all day. A picture perfect way to end the day, she thought to herself as a much sharper pain pierced her abdomen. She doubled over, letting out a sharp cry of pain.

"Cally!" the Chief called, pushing his way off the stage to her side. "Cally!"

"I'm okay…..it's just….the baby," she panted.

"Somebody get Doc Cottle," he shouted, scooping her up into his arms as he did. He staggered a little as he made his way towards the tent's opening, unaccustomed to her unwieldy form.

Starbuck rushed out of the tent ahead of him, running in the direction of the old doctor's tent. "Doc!" she called, charging into his tent.

"Starbuck!" he asked startled. He turned away from the others in his tent, and Kara didn't even notice them.

"Doc, Cally's in labor, you gotta come quick," she told him, grabbing his arm and making as though she was going to just drag him out of the tent with her.

"I have to get my things," he replied, tugging his arm away from her grasp as he turned towards the black bag beside the table where another baby lay. He began loading the bag and directed his attention towards the others in the tent, Kara pacing restlessly beside the entrance. "We'll have to finish this up tomorrow ladies, but I don't think you have anything to worry about, just a minor case of sinusitis. Keep the fluids down her, and I'll check in on Hera tomorrow."

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do for her?" Laura Roslin asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Without any antibiotics on hand, all I can prescribe is rest and fluids," the doctor answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got another patient waiting and I think Captain Thrace is about to the end of her patience over there."

Together they hurried through the rainy night towards the Chief's tent. Following along in the shadows Sharon Valerii watched their every step, listening to Doc's questions and Kara's answers about Cally.

* * *

"She's having the baby," Caprica Six said, joining Sharon's vigil. There were no questions about who 'she' was though. Sharon had taken a very active interest in the woman's pregnancy after learning that her executioner was now married to the Chief. The first time she'd seen them together she'd been filled with a mixture of anger and pain, now she just watched them with a sense of sad resignation. As Sharon continued to watch in silence, Six spoke again, indicating the duffle bag of supplies in the other woman's hand. "Are you just going to stand here all night holding that? Or are you actually going to deliver it? It's not doing them much good sitting here in the rain," the blonde felt compelled to point out. 

"He wouldn't want me in there…..upsetting **_her_**, especially not now."

"Neither one of them even have to know you're there. Leave the bag with one of the people hanging around outside they'll see that it gets to the doctor."

Sharon didn't respond, her attention focused on the brightly lit tent ahead of them. Something was going on there, the small crowd gathered outside becoming louder as someone stepped through the flap. From where they stood, the two Cylons managed to piece together what was going on. The baby was in a breach position, and Cally, who'd been in labor for most of the day without even realizing it, was growing weaker from exhaustion alone.

Without a word to her companion, Sharon grabbed the bag and strode forward towards the crowd.


	9. Chapter 9

At the last possible moment Sharon came to a halt, still concealed in the shadows of nearby tents. As Six looked on, the other Cylon stood staring at the Chief's tent, the lingering crowd of unionists finally dissipating as the rain continued to fall harder and harder around them. Finally, the dark haired Cylon stooped slightly for a split second then turned quickly and fled into the night.

Six's face was impassive when she saw that the bag that had been in Sharon's hand was now sitting on the ground at the edge of the clearing. She'd had doubts from the moment she'd seen the bag of supplies as to whether or not Sharon would actually go through with delivering them. For Chief Tyrol's sake she'd been willing to make the effort, but deep down inside, although she'd never admit it aloud, she was still bitter towards the woman who'd killed her. The woman who was now married to the man that Sharon still believed herself in love with. And thiscould beher only chance for revenge.

* * *

Inside the tent, Sam was helping a former medic from the Pegasus to hang a sheet around the bed where Cally lay, her agonized moans signaling each contraction. Doc Cottle knelt clumsily at the foot of the bed, checking her progress, his expression grim. Rising to his feet he met the medic's eyes as the other man finished his task. At the younger man's questioning look, the old doctor gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. 

"Chief, I need to ask you to step outside the curtain…" the medic started to say, but the other man wouldn't let him finish.

"Go frack yourself, I'm not going anywhere," he grunted, another contraction causing Cally to squeeze his hands so tightly they turned white in her grasp.

"It's just for a moment Chief," the doc said, his hand coming to rest on the younger man's shoulder. Galen swung his head around to protest, but something in the old doctor's eyes changed his mind.

Torn, the Chief turned to look down at Cally, an unreasonable guilt filling him as he did.

"It's okay Chief, I'll sit with Cally," Starbuck said, sitting on the other side of the bed. With a nod and a last squeeze of his wife's hand, Galen rose to follow the old man as he disappeared around the curtain.

"What's this all about?" the Chief demanded without preamble as soon as he rounded the end of the sheet. The doctor didn't answer at first, moving as far away from the sheet as possible without actually exiting the tent.

"I don't want Cally to hear this, alarm her before there's really a need for her to be alarmed about anything."

"But it's okay to scare the life out of me, is that it? She's going to be okay though, right?" the Chief asked, his voice just barely rising above a whisper.

The old man looked at his feet for a long moment before raising his head to meet the younger man's eyes. "I don't know. The baby hasn't turned; it's in the breach position. Now, normally I'd administer an epidural and…."

"But you don't have an epidural," Galen broke in hoarsely.

"No I don't."

"So what else can you do?"

"I can try to shift the baby into the birthing position."

"Can you do that? Have you ever?"

"Can't say that I've ever had a need to try it before."

"Has it ever been done before?"

"Of course it's been done; there just hasn't really been a need for it in the last couple hundred years."

"And that's our only option?"

"If I can't turn the baby, I'll attempt to deliver it breach."

"What do you mean attempt?"

"I'm going to be honest with you Chief, no matter what direction that baby comes; it's not going to be easy for Cally. If we were back on the Galactica, I'd have already administered the epidural."

Tyrol was silent for a long moment, his mind trying to absorb what the doctor had just told him. "What happens if she can't deliver the baby normally?" he whispered harshly.

Doc Cottle just looked at him, reluctant to give an answer.

* * *

"What were you thinking, Dad?" Apollo's voice angrily cut through the silence of William Adama's private quarters as he burst through the entry hatch with no warning. Heaving a weary sigh, the older man rose to his feet to face his son. 

"I was doing what any good leader would do in the situation of war, utilizing **_all _**of my assets."

"You could have been killed!" his son shouted back, fear of losing the last bit of family he had adding a bitter edge to his voice.

Will stared at his son, not speaking, almost at a loss for words at the look of anguish that filled the younger Adama's face. "How'd you hear about it?" he asked softly.

"How'd I hear about it?" Lee's voice raged. "I got to find out about it by overhearing two deckhands gossiping about it. Right after Helo and I pull a double shift patrolling the fleet. You couldn't tell me you were thinking about talking to her? You didn't think to talk it over with **_any _**of your officers?"

"It was a tactical decision."

"A tactical decision?"

"That's right. I knew you'd never willing go along with any plan that involved me being alone in the cell with her."

"You're damn right I wouldn't! She could have killed you; she could still end up killing us all. We've got no reason to trust her."

"But she didn't kill me, and if we want to get our people back, we're going to have to trust her," his father said softly.

"How? She betrayed the rescue team that Kara took back to Caprica, she even turned on Helo! Ever since her baby died, she's completely turned on us."

"That's only because she thought we'd killed her daughter. Any mother would be pushed over the edge if she was being held prisoner and thought her child had died under mysterious circumstances," William reasoned. Something about his tone of voice, the choice of words caught Lee's attention.

"Why your sudden change of heart? Even when I was starting to think we could trust her, you held your ground. She was the enemy, case closed. Why should we trust her, Dad?"

"Because I made a deal with her, and I have every reason to believe she'll keep her word to help us retrieve our people from New Caprica."

"And what's she get out of it? Freedom?"

"Limited. She'll be allowed out of her cell under guard with minimum restraints until I'm assured that she is in fact co-operating."

"That can't be everything."

"No. I also told her I'd help her get her daughter back once we get our people out of Cylon control."

"But her daughter's dead," Lee stated in confusion.

William slowly seated himself on the couch once again, suddenly overcome by weariness. "No, it was just made to look that way. President Roslin declared it to be for the greater good. Only a handful of us ever knew." Even as he spoke, hecouldn't help but wonder how things may have been different over the course of the past year had he not gone along with that particular decision. Judging by the play of emotions crossing his son's face, he wasn't alone in his thoughts.

* * *

Helo sat on his bunk, alone in the crew quarters, a precious bottle of ambrosia clutched in his hand. Inside he was torn. He'd heard the same rumors that had sent Lee to the Galactica to confront his father, and a part of him had wanted to accompany his commander. Not to see the Admiral, but to have his own confrontation with Sharon. And then there was that part of him that didn't want to face her. What had the old man been thinking to go in there alone with her? 

That question kept rolling through his mind over and over. Not even Helo was allowed to be alone in the cell with her, even back before she'd decided to hate all mankind. Before their daughter had died.

The thought of Hera brought a pain to his heart as it always did. Even after a year, it still felt like there was a great gaping hole there, a void that he was afraid could only be filled by his child. After Sharon's sudden emotional desertion of him he'd thought his heart would be numb, but it pained him more than ever.

He looked at the bottle of ambrosia again, wishing that if he drank enough of it the pain would all disappear. But he'd barely taken a few sips of it. The memories of Starbuck's downward spiral as she'd tried to drink away her problems were all too clear in his mind. The alcohol would make him feel good for a short time, maybe make him forget for a little while, but then he'd wake up and the pain in his head would be rivaling that in his heart and nothing would've changed.

"You got enough of that to share?" Dee's voice said softly from the hatchway, her hand gesturing towards the bottle.

"Help yourself," he replied, holding the bottle out to her. Somehow he wasn't surprised to see her standing there, it seemed like every time he needed someone to talk to these days she appeared. He wasn't sure what to make of it, if there was anything to make out of it. Once upon a time Starbuck had been the only person he could sit down and talk to, now Dee seemed determined to fill that role.

She stepped forward, taking the bottle from his hand and raising it to her lips and took a short pull. If she was surprised by the fact that the bottle was still nearly full, it didn't show. "I guess you heard the latest rumor," she said as she seated herself on the bunk directly opposite his own.

"Aren't you on duty? I mean, shouldn't you be up on the bridge flying this bucket instead of slumming it down here?" he responded, avoiding her gaze.

"Actually, the engineers pretty much take care of that, I just boss everyone around when Leedecides to disappear and relive his glory days as a pilot," she said lightly, bringing the ghost of a smile to his face.

"I guess you know he headed straight over to the Galactica."

"Like you said, I'm usually the one on the bridge running this bucket when he's not around. Kind of gives me an edge on knowing when Vipers and Raptors take off and land."

"Which is why I'm wondering what you're doing here," he mused thoughtfully.

"I'm just making sure my CAG still has his head on straight," she said flippantly.

"I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"Abso-fracken-lutely," he said, retrieving the bottle from her grasp and taking a pull from it.

"Then why didn't you answer me? About those rumors….."

"Because I don't have anything to say," he retorted, abruptly cutting her off.

"Sure, and that's why you're snapping my head off now."

He sighed, sitting the ambrosia aside. "I'm sorry, Dee. I guess I'm not real good company to be with right now."

"It's all right. I just wanted to let you know, I'm here if you need to talk."

"And what if I don't want to talk?"

"Wha…."

Dee's question was cut off as Helo turned and pulled her towards him, dropping his lips to hers. His lips were hard at first, gradually softening as their lips parted. They broke apart, each looking questioningly into the others eyes.

* * *

Kara had paced along outside the tent for most of the night after she'd been banished from the inside by Doc Cottle and his assistant when they went to work trying to deliver Cally's baby. She'd held her vigil, though the others had long since gone. Only Sam had stayed with her during the long night, though she'd tried to send him away, still worried about his health after that bout with pneumonia he'd suffered. 

Now she was alone, though, gnawing on a fingernail as her mind raced withthoughts, first and foremost was wondering for the thousandth time what was happening inside the tent. She'd sent Sam back to their tent, telling him that there was no point in both of them being there. It wasn'tthe real reason for sending him away, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that she wanted some time alone to do some thinking.

The night had been such a blur to her that she'd not once noticed Leobon watching in the distance. As soon as Sam had walked away, he'd made his move.

For his part, watching Starbuck had become a hobby of Leobon's that he'd developed since the day the Cylons had first invaded New Caprica. He'd been waiting for the opportunity to get her alone, something he hadn't managed to do since just after the invasion. He couldn't keep the smile from his face as he silently walked up behind her.

"It's been a long time Lieutenant, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to avoid me," he said softly. "Or maybe you're just afraid of being alone with me."

A brief tension in her shoulders was the only thing that betrayed her surprise. She quickly recovered, replying, "In your dreams, and I've told you before Leobon, it's Captain now. Didn't they give you enough memory when they rebuilt you?" As she spoke, she slowly turned to face him.

He stepped closer and came to a halt directly in front of her. Looking down at her he replied, "I remember, I just like that little gleam in your eyes when you think you're getting the last word in."

"What do you want, Leobon?" she demanded. Already exhausted from her all night vigil, she was in no mood to play verbal games with him. He didn't answer though, just kept looking down at her face and smiling. He had all the time in the world.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Having some difficulties with the upload on this chapter so the break between segments may appear differently, sorry about any confusion it causes.

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"I've been thinking about our time together and I so very much enjoyed all of our long chats while I was a **_guest_** on the Galactica. You remember that don't you? The beatings and such," he paused, smiling down at her again.

"As I recall you were a prisoner of war and my job was to interrogate you," Kara responded coldly, still trying to determine what kind of game he was playing.

"But you felt bad when they jettisoned me from the airlock didn't you? You can admit it; I'm such an old friend after all."

"Friend is hardly the term I'd use where you're concerned," she managed to answer. In the back of her mind though, she couldn't help but recall the odd feelings she'd felt upon seeing his body flying out into the blackness of space. Although she'd never have admitted it to anyone, even Lee who knew most of her darkest secrets, his execution had left a bad taste in her mouth. They'd promised him he'd live if he talked, but President Roslin had reneged on that, insisting that they didn't bargain with terrorists. But somehow, other than being one of 'them,' she'd been unable to think of him as a terrorist.

"I guess it must be hard for you to admit your true feelings. It'd almost be like collaboration with the enemy now wouldn't it?" he smirked. He seemed to know instinctively all the right buttons to push when it came to Kara Thrace.

She was about to reply, but the noise of others waking and leaving their tents for the day gave her pause. There was no way she was going to be spotted talking to a Cylon. Without thought to the consequences, she reached out and grabbed hold of Leobon's sleeve, tugging him away from tent. It wasn't until they'd reached some trees skirting the edge of the encampment that she realized what she'd done. She half expected one of the toasters that patrolled the perimeter to show up and take her prisoner or shoot her on the spot. But perhaps they didn't do that if you were with one of their own.

"Feeling protective of me? Or trying to cover your own ass? Associating with the enemy and all," he said, as soon as they came to a halt. "What do you think they'd say? What do you think Sam would say?"

Kara whirled to face him. "For the last fracking time, what do you want!" she spat out.

He smiled, stepping away a few paces and leaning back against a tree. With his arms akimbo, he looked her over once more. "Uh uh, not like that. I'm not the prisoner anymore, you are. So, as such, I could stand here and demand that you answer all of my questions or shoot you on the spot. But I'd rather we have a little tit-for-tat so to speak. You answer my questions, and maybe, if your answers are sufficient to me, I'll answer some of yours. Within reason of course."

Kara looked at him as though considering his proposal, though deep down inside she's livid with rage. The audacity of the man astounded her almost as much as it intrigued her. How had he managed to learn that she was there on the planet? And how did he know about Sam? She tried to pay it cool with him.

"Besides your whole grand Cylon plan, or how to most effectively kill all of your kind, what information could you possibly have that I would want to know?"

"Do you ever wonder about that scar on your abdomen? Why you were never put in with the rest of the breeding stock as soon as you were fit?" he asked, completely throwing her off guard. "You remember the Farm, don't you, Kara?"

"What do you know about that?" she whispered hoarsely, her hand involuntarily going up to rest atop the clothing that covered her scar. It was one of the great mysteries from her time with the resistance on Caprica. She'd suffered no ill effects from the mysterious wound, and for the most part had been able to push her fears about it to the back of her mind, until now.

"I know it all," he said, that enigmatic smile of his never leaving his face. He pushed away from the tree, slowly circling around her, watching as she struggled to keep her face impassive. He knew how much his words affected her though, so he continued his taunting.

"How many times have you woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat? Wondering if we may have implanted some sort of tracking device in you? Maybe a bomb? Something small and undetectable…"

His words send Kara's mind racing over all the possibilities, despite Doc Cottle having given her a clean bill of health. The things Leobon was suggesting mirrored all the horrible things she'd thought of before all by herself. It was the stuff of her nightmares, and being reminded of it all over again caused a knot of fear to form in her throat.

"What do you want from me?" Kara whispered her reply, for once unable to meet his eyes. He reaches out, his hand lightly grasping her chin as he propels her face upward till she's looking into his eyes.

"Everything," he replies.

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Helo was the first to break off eye contact with Dee, cursing under his breath as he reached for the bottle of ambrosia and took a long pull.

"That was….different," she said, a look of bemusement on her face. "It almost felt incestuous though, like I was kissing my brother."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he responded, passing the bottle to her. He still avoided her gaze, thinking how he'd like to kick his own ass for his stupidity. Kissing Dee was like a science experiment gone wrong, something that sounded good in theory, but crashed and burned in the harsh light of reality.

"But it was still kinda…..nice," she added, trying to be tactful. Hoping she could alleviate some of the tension that suddenly seemed to be overwhelmingly filling the small room.

"Sure," he replied, sounding none too convinced.

"But I'm not Sharon," she said, fishing for a means to get him to open up.

"No. You're not. But then, I'm not Lee either."

"Not even if it was dark and I had my eyes closed."

They shared an uncomfortable moment of silence before Helo let out a humorless laugh.

"We're some pair aren't we?" he said, finally looking into her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Both of us here, pining over people that don't want us in return. I feel so pathetic sometimes. I mean, at least the object of your affection is human. I don't even know what I'm in love with. Would you believe me if I blamed it on the ambrosia?" he asked, giving her a small smile as met her eyes at last.

"Hardly, considering how much is still in that bottle. But, if it makes you feel any better, you at least know what you're up against. I feel like even though he ended things and we're supposed to be friends I'm still fighting the ghosts of Lee's past. I think things were doomed for us even before they started."

"Ghosts of the past...Kara?" Helo guessed, right off the bat. A person would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to miss the fireworks that went off whenever Lee and Kara were together, and he wasn't just thinking about the fighting. There was always something simmering under the surface, jealousy, love, hate. You name it; their feelings for each other covered the full gamut of emotion.

"For one. Okay, probably the biggest one," Dee grinned at Helo's disbelieveing look. She continued on, despite the sadness that entered into her voice. "Did Lee ever tell you about his girlfriend back on Caprica?"

"No way. Was she issued to him from the military?" he asked, only half jokingly. Despite having come to know Lee quite well over the past year, to the point of considering him probably the best friend he had now, there was still a part of Lee that couldn't be touched. It was the part that he hid behind a persona that was thoroughly entrenched in military protocols, who thought that all the answers were clearly either black or white.

"Hardly," Dee laughed a true honest to goodness laugh as she mimicked his earlier response. "He was young and in love, she wanted to start a family and he didn't. Then the Cylons invaded, and everything was taken out of his hands. Except for that lingering question in his mind, 'Did he do the right thing?' I think it eats him up inside still."

"Why didn't he want to have a family?"

"I think he was just plain scared. Look at his family. His father was always gone, and when he was home, he'd just grown so far apart from the rest of them. I think Lee's afraid that if he married and had kids of his own the same thing would happen."

"So he's scared that he'll have kids who're going to have to go through the same things he did?"

"More or less. At least, that's what I've come up with from what I've been able to piece together. Lee isn't really big on talking about his past."

They were silent again, each lost in their own thoughts as they passed the ambrosia back and forth between them. At last Dee spoke.

"So what about the latest rumors on Sharon? Do you really think she tried to kill the old man with her bare hands?"

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Kara hurried back to Chief Tyrol's tent, her mind still reeling from her chat with Leobon. He wouldn't give her any answers about what had been done to her back on Caprica. He was stringing her along, baiting her. And she was going along with it. She'd agreed to meet him the next day there in the woods. They'd play question and answer until they both got what they wanted. She just hoped it wasn't her very soul that he was after.

"Kara? Where've you been?" Sam called out from the clearing in front of the tent.

"I….I just took a quick walk," she hurried to reply. "I guess I couldn't take all this waiting any more than you." The excuse sounded lame, even to her ears, but Sam didn't seem to notice. An odd look in his eyes alerted her that something was wrong.

"Sam? What is it? What's wrong?"

"The baby didn't make it. Doc says he was stillborn, but…."

"But what?"

"I talked to Foley, that medic who was helping him. He said that the baby's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. She had to deliver it breach, and it just went on too long. Even if the cord didn't necessarily strangle him, it was pinched off in the birth canal…."

"By the gods!" Kara exclaimed, not wanting to hear any more. "What about Cally? How's she holding up?"

"She's unconscious right now, she was hemorrhaging pretty badly, I guess old Doc Cottle had a pretty bad time getting it under control."

"But she's alive, right? She's going to be okay."

"They don't know. She lost an awful lot of blood, the Doc didn't seem too sure she'd pull through. Not that he'd come right out and admit something like that, not with Galen in the room."

"The Chief…"

"He's sitting with her now. He seems to be holding up…well, as good as anyone could, given the circumstances."

Kara was quiet for a moment, letting all the information sink into her already troubled mind. "Cally will be okay, she's a tough one. She's been shot, beat up……She'll be okay," she finally murmured, almost as though she needed to convince herself.

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"How could you do something like that? What purpose could it have served?" Lee demanded, still reeling from his father's revelation that Hera's death had been staged.

"I didn't do anything. And as I said, President Roslin had decreed it was for the greater good. We're both soldiers Lee, we follow the orders handed down to us by our superiors whether we agree with them or not," William reasoned.

"You went along with the plan, that's something."

"I didn't have a choice," the older man argued. Deep down inside though, he doubted his own words. He'd had a choice, but he'd gone along with the path of least resistance. And perhaps some of it had been revenge. Even if this particular Sharon hadn't been the one behind the assassination attempt on him, he couldn't help but despise her for it, every time he looked at her face.

"Look, I can understand why you would have kept the baby away from Sharon," Lee relented. And it was true. How much could you trust a Cylon? They'd all seen how the other Sharon seemed to act without a conscious knowledge of what she was doing. Why should this one be any different? Although, he did grudgingly concede to himself that up until she'd lost her child, this Sharon had always been willing to help them, even after that incident with those crewmen from the Pegasus trying to rape her.

"But you don't understand why we'd do such a thing to Helo?" his father finished.

"Yeah."

"If we had told him his daughter was still alive, do you really believe he'd have been able to keep that from Sharon?"

"Probably not, but that doesn't make it any more right."

"I know how you're feeling son; I've had those same doubts running through my head ever since the decision was made. But it was done, and I have to believe that Laura, ur, President Roslin, had the best interests of the fleet at heart."

"Have you told Helo yet?"

"No."

"So why tell Sharon about it now, Dad? I doubt she's going to have a sudden change of heart towards us, especially after learning that we stole her child from her. And before Helo even knows about it?"

"Lee, she's the best hope we have of getting back to the planet undetected by the Cylons. I believe Helo will understand why it was necessary…."

"You stole a man's child, turned the woman, the Cylon, he loved against everybody and you think he's going to understand?"

William stared at his son, not even wanting to contemplate the answer to that question. It was one he'd been asking himself ever since leaving Sharon's prison. He could leave her and her rage behind in a cell, knowing she'd co-operate with him for the chance of getting her daughter back. Helo was going to be an entirely different matter.


	11. Chapter 11

"The child was dead," Six announced without preamble as she moved to stand beside Sharon. The two of them stood on a small bluff overlooking the humans' settlement. The rain had finally ended, but there was still an air of gloom surrounding those that moved about from tent to tent and those engaged in the building of a new city under the direction of the Cylons.

"I know," the dark haired Cylon replied, not even looking in Six's direction. Her focus was unwaveringly on the settlement below.

"There's no guarantee that it would have lived if you'd actually delivered the supplies."

"I know."

"The mother may yet pull through," Six tried again to get some sort of response from her companion. This time though, Sharon said nothing. "The bag was found, eventually. There's still hope that they'll be able to save her….." the blond continued.

"It doesn't matter."

"Were you trying to kill her? And the child too? Were you looking for revenge?"

Six's words hit Sharon hard, almost like a physical blow. None of her questions were different from the one's that Sharon herself had thought of, that she'd been brooding alone on the bluff asking herself. Was she really the heartless monster the human's thought of all Cylons as? She finally turned her attention away from the settlement, looking down to her feet first before meeting Six's eyes.

"I don't know," she replied softly. "When I first left it there and walked away…..I… I told myself that there was no way the humans would accept anything from me. They'd be suspicious, thinking it was meant to harm them. Why should they trust any of us?"

"Sam did when he was ill."

"Sam was feverish and delusional when I approached him the first time. After he started to improve, there was just no way he could deny that I was really helping him."

"And you don't believe the others would see that? Trust that you'd helped one of their kind before?"

"That was one act. But their memories can't see beyond the sabotage of the Galactica, my relationship with the Chief. They can't see beyond my assassination attempt on Commander Adama. If Cally lived, it would be credited as the good doctor's doing, and if she died, it would be laid at my feet, the ultimate act of revenge on my killer."

Now it was Six's turn to be silent. Sharon was right, no matter what the outcome may have been, she'd still be a pariah in the eyes of the humans, in the eyes of Chief Galen Tyrol.

"Do you still wish to proceed?"

"Yes. Our own people broke their word on the truce, after what we went through getting others to join our cause…. We can't let it end now."

"Then I should probably tell you…I've been working on securing a new liaison with the humans."

"I don't believe the President will be of much persuasion. The people seem to distrust and despise him; they'll tell him to get fracked if he suggests an alliance with us."

"Not Baltar, he's a lost cause for us now," Six responded stiffly. The tone of her voice had Sharon looking questioningly at her.

"His aide, who also happens to be one of the Cabinet Ministers, Felix Gaeta. He has ties to the remnants of the military on the planet, and despite his affiliation with the president the people still seem to trust him."

"And Baltar?"

Six didn't respond.

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For what felt like the hundredth time, Helo asked himself what he hoped to accomplish by visiting Sharon. The flight to the Galactica on board one of the shuttles had seemed to pass by as a blur, but now it felt as though his feet were filled with lead as he slowly made his way to the detention cells.

Chances were high that Sharon wouldn't even pick up the damn two-way phone to talk to him, and there was no way the guards would let him inside with her. He used to try that back in the early days after her betrayal on Caprica, but the Admiral had suspended those privileges. At least he'd still been able to visit her, for all the good that had done. It had been months now since he'd last seen her. 'How would she respond?' he thought to himself as he stood outside the hatch that lead into the detention area.

It was now or never. Still moving slowly, he opened the hatch and stepped inside. If the marines were surprised to see him there after such a long absence, it didn't show. He barely paid them any attention though, as his eyes were drawn to the detention cell.

Inside, Sharon paced across the length of the cell relentlessly back and forth. Internally, she'd relived the entire encounter with Adama until her mind became focused on one thought: Hera was alive.

Helo watched her paced and let his mind drift back to the last time he'd visited her here. He'd actually lost track of how much time had passed, but the venomous, hate-filled words she'd thrown at him that day were still fresh in his mind as he watched her. Questions filled his mind.

Did he still love her? Or was he merely fooling himself that what they'd shared together had been real? Could he really be allowing that brief happiness that they'd found together cloud his mind?

His thoughts caused him to hesitate a moment longer, the request to the guards to speak with their prisoner dying on his tongue. Maybe it was better not to know the truth. Damn Dee and her questions about Sharon's attempt on the Admiral's life. He could have put this visit off inevitably had it not been for that.

Before he could change his mind about the visit and flee the detention center Sharon looked up and saw him. She immediately drew to a halt, her mouth moving, a single word escaping her lips, 'Helo.' Although the cells were all soundproof he still understood. There was no way he could leave now.

Sharon moved forward, her eyes never leaving his, until she reached the two-way phone. Picking up the receiver, she raised it to her ear and waited. She was ready to talk to him now. The move kick started Helo into action.

"I need to see the prisoner," he requested, stepping towards the guards as he gestured towards Sharon's cell. The duty sergeant didn't speak to him, just nodded his head in assent. Helo barely acknowledged the Marine, striding forward and grasping the receiver on his side of the cell wall. Raising it to his own ear he suddenly found himself unable to speak.

"Helo."

He closed his eyes at the sound of her voice, the handset giving it a tinny sound. The only thought in his mind was 'What the frack was I thinking?'

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"Everything's going to be okay, Cally," Galen said softly, brushing the hair back from her face.

Her face was nearly whiter than the sheets she lay on. She'd been hemorrhaging badly after the baby was delivered; Doc Cottle had given her less than 50:50 chances for making it through the day.

"I'm so….sorry…..about the….baby," she whispered, so quiet he had to lean close to hear her.

"Shhhh…Don't talk, you need to save your strength," he urged.

"I have to……might be the…..only chance…..we get."

"Don't talk like that! You're going to get better. I've seen you come back from worse than this," he tried to reassure her, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Not….not this time…… Wish some…someone had….warned me…..giving birth…..hurts….helluva lot more…..than being….gut shot." She smiled weakly, willing him to laugh at her joke.

He managed the barest of smiles, reaching his right hand down to tightly clasp hers where it lay limply at her side. "You lost a lot of blood that time too, but you got better. You will this time too."

"No….I won't. Not this….time. It's okay…..Galen…..I wouldn't have traded….the last year….together. Not for….anything."

"Don't talk like that, Cally! I'm not going to lose you, not now," the Chief whispered harshly. He wasn't even aware of the tears that had begun running down his face until she reached up and wiped them away.

Her mind was still moving quickly, full of things she wanted to say to him, but didn't think she'd have the strength for. She was so tired, the urge to sleep was almost overwhelming, but she was afraid of it, afraid that if she closed her eyes she'd never awaken.

"It's okay…Galen….it's okay," she whispered again and again, her hand squeezing at his. It broke his heart. He felt like so much of her suffering had been his fault, all leading back to the beating.

His mind instantly flashbacked in time to that fateful moment when she'd come upon him in the midst of a terrible dream. A dream in which he was a Cylon, just as his Sharon had been, and that it was only a matter of time before he betrayed his friends too.

If she hadn't tried to awaken him, if he hadn't awoken terrified and fighting, if he hadn't nearly beaten her to death, there'd never have been reason for his guilt to draw him to sickbay. His bedside vigil had rekindled their friendship, her hero worship, and eventually led to this moment. He felt cursed, everyone he'd ever loved died. He didn't know how he would face it again, not with Cally who'd helped heal the wounds his twisted relationship with a Cylon had created.

"Just rest now Cally," he whispered, brushing a kiss across her forehead. "I'll be here when you wake up." He didn't need to add 'if you wake up,' they both understood the possibility.

"I can't," she whispered, clutching his hand more tightly, a sudden burst of strength that shocked him even as it filled him with hope.

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Inside the Admiral's quarters, father and son still clashed over the concealment of Hera from her parents. Lee had vocalized all the same arguments that his father had felt himself when President Roslin had first revealed her plan. But the bottom line was that he hadn't argued with her, try as he might. That little voice in the back of his mind playing devil's advocate had urged him to go along with it. The Cylons had some sort of agenda for a human/ Cylon hybrid child; why else would they be trying so hard to get their hands on one?

"We have to trust that Helo will understand that we acted in the manner we thought best," the Admiral said for the umpteenth time since he'd revealed the news to Lee.

"Would you have understood it if someone had taken me away from you and Mom? If someone had taken **_Zack_** from you?" Lee couldn't keep the tension from his voice as he spoke his brother's name. Zack had been taken from them, but what if they'd never had the chance to know him at all?

"I would have torn the whole of the 12 colonies apart looking for either of my sons," the old man admitted gruffly. "But that's an entirely different matter, you were both human."

"She was still Helo's daughter, whatever her mother may have been."

"Then we'll have to make him understand that we did it to protect her. As long as they thought she'd died, then the rumors would get out to the rest of the fleet that she'd died."

"Keeping any spies from knowing we had the hybrid they were seeking," Lee finished.

"Precisely."

"I understand why you did it, Dad. But I'm not Helo, and that's not my child down on a planet controlled by Cylons."

The intercom began sounding, providing a much needed distraction for the elder Adama. They would never see eye to eye about what had been done with Hera, and all the arguing in the world wouldn't prepare them to face Helo.

"This is the Admiral," he spoke into the apparatus.

"_Sir, this is Lieutenant Stahl on the bridge. You wished to be alerted of any visitors to the Cylon detention…"_

William cut him off, "Captain Agathon?"

"_Yes sir, he arrived at Galactica's detention cells just over half an hour ago. I'm sorry, sir, I don't know how I missed his arrival, the duty sergeant didn't report…"_

"That'll be all Lieutenant," William said, cutting the young officer off in mid-sentence and abruptly returning the handset to its cradle. They'd lost the advantage of breaking the news to Helo themselves; there was no telling what Sharon would say to him. He turned to face his son. "We may have a problem."


	12. Chapter 12

Helo stood in shock outside the cell, the receiver hanging from his hand at his side as he just stared through the plexi glass. Disbelief washed over him as he focused on the three most important words Sharon had uttered, "Hera is alive." But how could that be? He'd seen her tiny little body himself, so still, so unbearably lifeless.

On the other side of the glass Sharon was motioning for him to put the receiver to his ear again, but he still hesitated. Would the old man have really conspired to steal his daughter from him? He'd always thought that the whole crew was like family to the Admiral, but maybe that was all just an illusion. A clever ruse to garner 100 percent loyalty from his crew, perhaps.

He focused his attention on Sharon once more, finally lifting the receiver. "Helo!" her voice called out. "Do you understand what I said?"

What she said. His mind worked to try and remember what else she'd been saying to him, something about the former president, Laura Roslin. And something about the Admiral and blackmail, he thought, but his mind had sort of lost focus after she'd made her outrageous claims about Hera.

"We both saw her body…..how can she be alive, Sharon?"

"I don't know what they did to her, but she was so small….they never even let us touch her. They could have done anything and we would never have known. The babe they showed us may not even have been her."

"And I should just believe you, after everything…."

"Ask the old man yourself if you don't believe me," she cut him off angrily. "Adama is the one who swore to me that she's still alive. He came to **_me_**!"

"But why? What purpose could it serve?" he argued still, not ready to believe, to hope, but doing it anyway.

"For one thing how about as punishment, Helo. Take the child away from her Cylon mother, and the traitor human who fathered her."

There was no mistaking the bitterness and anger in her voice, but at the same time, her words made some kind of sense to him. It had taken him a long time after the escape from Caprica to earn the trust of his comrades again, after they'd found out about Sharon and her pregnancy, the way he defended her. Even now, there were still those on board both war ships that hated him for what he'd done.

"They didn't have to pretend she was dead to punish us," he whispered.

"Adama himself asked me if I'd seriously thought they'd let me keep her and raise her. A prisoner, just like her mother." When he didn't respond, she added, "Think about it Helo, a child that's half-Cylon, half-human, she was living proof that our two species really aren't all that different after all. That we're capable of joining our species at a genetic level. It kind of makes it hard to hate and war against something so like yourselves, doesn't it?"

"But you've already managed to make yourselves look and act like us," Helo responded softly. "And it hasn't kept us from hating each other. We're at war, I don't think it's even possible for us not to hate."

"We managed not to."

"And how long that last?"

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"All right, I'm here, now what?" Kara asked. It'd been two days since she'd last been in this clearing. Two long days since Cally had lost her baby. Amazingly, the girl was still clinging to life.

Leobon pushed himself away from the tree that he'd been leaning against. "You're late; I was beginning to think you'd changed your mind."

"Some of us are being forced to work against our wills," she retorted angrily. "So excuse me if I don't have the **_freedom_** to come and go as I please."

"And yet you still managed to slip away," he pointed out; smiling that same enigmatic smile he'd had at their last meeting.

Every time she saw him, and she could pick this particular Leobon out of the sea of them that seemed to populate the planet now, he was always smiling. And it unnerved her more than she cared to admit, so much so she'd seen it in her dreams the last two nights. So she tried her damnedest to keep him from knowing how much it affected her. Anger helped, and fortunately Leobon was very skilled at making her angry.

"Just quit with the games and tell me what was done to me," she demanded.

"Lieutenant….Captain Thrace," he corrected himself before she could do it for him. "That's not how this works. **_I_** ask the questions, you answer. Your reward for complying will be the information you seek. All in good time of course."

She fumed silently, the rage building inside of her. She wanted to attack, to send a roundhouse kick at him and knock the smile from his face. If they'd been in the Galactica's gym, he'd be picking his ass up from the mat by now.

But they weren't on the Galactica, and Leobon was quite possibly her one and only chance for finding out what had happened to her. It was hard to live with, a whole section of your memory wiped out. The knowledge that something had been done to her body, but not what that something could be.

"Tell me about your childhood," he said, taking her by surprise. "What were your parents like? Loving? Strict? Maybe a little on the wild side like their daughter?" he surmised.

"What the frak does my childhood have to do with anything?"

"You're defensive. Don't tell me that the great Starbuck is embarrassed about her past."

"I'm not embarrassed; I just don't see that my childhood has any relevance….."

"I'll be the judge of that," he broke in. "Now, the deal was, you answer my questions, I'll give you the information you want. Don't tell me you've changed your mind," he goaded. He was enjoying himself now, the knowledge that she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize learning about what had happened to her during her time in captivity on Caprica. It was the one lure he knew she couldn't resist.

Starbuck's mind reeled. What was his game now? She wished she knew; that there was some other way of finding out what she so desperately wanted to know. But the only choice she saw before her was to play along, whatever the game may be. With a sigh, she started talking.

"My mother was an alcoholic. I don't know who my father was; apparently she was too drunk to remember his name. I think most of the fleet was on leave that week, so there's really no telling how many possible candidates there were. Satisfied?"

"Hardly, but it's a start." He paced around her once, twice, considering. "So your mother had a bit of a wild streak to her, he surmised. "Like mother like daughter. Tell me about her. You say she didn't know who your father was, but did she ever even try to find out?"

"Why would she? As long as she had a drink in her hand and I stayed out of her way she was a happy woman. Of course when I was around to yell at and blame for all the problems in her life she was pretty happy too." As she spoke, Kara realized that she hadn't spared her mother a single thought in a long time, she couldn't even remember if she'd thought about her at all after the attack on the colonies. While everyone else was mourning the loss of their families, it was more or less business as usual for her. Except for the lingering fears for what fate may have befallen Lee, before they'd been reunited of course.

"What about you, Lieutenant? Did you ever try to find him?" Leobon asked, breaking into her thoughts and returning her to the present.

"Captain," she automatically corrected.

Leobon smiled again. "All right, Captain. Did you ever try to find him, Captain?"

"What for?"

"Maybe he would have wanted you."

"I was just fine without him," she assured him. Too bad she didn't really believe her own words. When she was a kid, enduring the laughter of her peers over her torn clothes and the makeshift lunches she'd scraped together herself, she'd dreamed that one day her father would show up and her life would suddenly be normal.

But no father ever showed up to take her away from her miserable life. So she endured the taunts until she taught herself how to fight back. She endured her mother's rants over how Kara's very existence had ruined the elder Thrace's life.

"Really? No doubts at all? No questions about what your life could have been like if he'd been around?" He circled around her as he spoke, as though a predator looking for some sign of weakness in his prey.

She refused to give him what he wanted though. With her trademark sarcastic smirk plastered to her face, she decided to turn the tables on him.

"What about you Leobon? What was the last thought in your mind before the airlock opened?" she countered. "Were you terrified that it really would be the end for you? That none of your little resurrection ships were floating around close enough for you to be downloaded? Were you afraid to die? I mean, really die…… no chance at all of returning."

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"What a beautiful child," a voice said softly.

Laura Roslin turned swiftly towards the sound, seeing that long-legged, blonde Cylon looking down into Hera's makeshift crib that still occupied one corner of the classroom. The woman slowly reached out her hand, extending it towards the sleeping child.

"Don't touch her!" Laura's voice came out much more harshly than she'd intended. She didn't want to anger the Cylon and draw undue attention to the child, but at the same time she was terrified of what the creature might do to the baby. "What I mean is that I just got her down for a nap. She's colicky, she needs her rest," she quickly added.

Six's hand had already hesitated though, a moment of déjà vu taking her back to another time and an infant, much smaller than the child before her. That baby had lay sleeping inside of a stroller. And its neck had snapped so easily under her fingers. She drew her hand back.

"If the child is ill why are you exposing the rest of your young ones to it?"

"Oh she's not contagious. It's just something that many little ones go through. Sometimes I think that it's harder on their parents than anything," Laura explained. She was surreptitiously trying to position herself between the crib and the Cylon. Six smiled, stepping back and allowing Laura to do so, as though she'd been aware all along of the older woman's plan.

"Aren't you old to be her mother?" the Cylon asked, rather callously.

"She's not my child. Her mother isn't here right now."

"But she lives here, with you, right?"

"Yes. Yes, that's right. She assists me with the children's education."

"And the father?"

"He's dead."

"Such a pity."

"I thought your kind wanted us all dead. Don't tell me your plans have changed for us?" Laura couldn't keep herself from asking.

It was at that moment that Hera's eyes opened, looking up clearly at Six, distracting her from Laura's question. The Cylon's harshly drawn in breath was her only giveaway that there was something amiss.

"Is something wrong?" Laura asked, turning her attention away from the blonde to look down into the crib. "You've woke her up. Just please, tell me what you're doing here? I…. I have work to do and now I need to get her back to sleep," she rambled, terrified at the Cylon's sudden fascination with little Hera.

Six, however, was not about to be distracted, her attention fixated solely on the girl, as if Laura had suddenly ceased being present in the tent. The child was staring up at Six with a very familiar pair of brown eyes. They were eyes that Six saw everyday, all over the planet. They were the eyes of Sharon Valerii. It seemed that God's will had been done after all.

"How many know the child's true parentage?" Six asked, meeting Laura's eyes at last.

"I don't know what you mean. I told you already, her mother is my assistant, her father perished in one of the attacks."

"Her mother is one of the Sharon Valerii models," Six countered.

"Don't be absurd."

"Your willingness to deny the truth is commendable, but very, very foolish. I can see it in your face that you know I speak the truth. You need to understand, my people are **_very_** eager to get their hands on this child. I can help you protect her."

Laura's already pale complexion drained of the last remnants of color. "She's not who you think she is," she argued almost pleadingly.

"I can help you," Six said again, her gaze returning briefly to the child. "But I need to know, how many more are privy to the truth about her?"

Laura, too, glanced down at Hera, as though the answer to this new threat lay somewhere in the innocent child's small face.

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	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I just wanted to point out to the nay-sayers who couldn't see Sam Anders trusting Boomer in my story that the previews for season three clearly shows them working side by side. Maybe my concept that Boomer and Six sparing his life in the parking garage on Caprica, as well as my twist that she helped Anders survive the bout of pneumonia being the basis for his trust isn't so far fetched after all. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy.

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Doc Cottle wasn't exactly surprised when Sharon Valerii appeared at his tent, not since having witnessed the incident with Sam Anders anyway. His real surprise was that it had taken so long for her to approach. When the bag had been found with the instruments that could have made Cally's birthing ordeal slightly more bearable, albeit too late to do any good, he'd suspected she was the culprit. The first words to cross her lips were enough to confirm his suspicions, at least, to his way of thinking anyway.

"What do you need in order to save her?" she asked without preamble.

"Cally?" he asked blandly. It was phrased as a rhetorical question; she knew it as well as he did. "She's in need of a blood transfusion for starters. I have the volunteers, just no sterilized equipment to work with."

"Just tell me everything you need, and which of your ships it's hidden away on. I'll try and see you have it by nightfall," she instructed.

He looked at her, consideringly for a long quiet moment before he spoke. What he said took her by surprise.

"Why are you so intent on helping?"

She looked away, unwilling to meet the old man's eyes. "I owe him," she mumbled, almost incoherently.

"What was that?" he coaxed. He'd heard her, wasn't even quite sure why it mattered so much to him to hear her say it again. Perhaps he just wanted justification to his theory that she couldn't let go of her past memories of the Chief, from before her Cylon nature had presented itself, the part of her that still made her think and feel like she was a human

If she still thought of herself as human, it would go a long way in explaining her willingness to help save Sam Anders' life, not once but twice it seemed. But the more he thought about it, the more questions arose. What made her different from the rest of her Cylon brethren? Why would she be so reluctant to give up the phony memories they'd given her? Was that what made her so intent on helping the humans to live?

And it wasn't just this reincarnated version of the Boomer they'd all known on the Galactica, the other one was different too. At least, she had been until they'd stolen her child. She'd killed off hundreds of her own kind by unleashing a virus into them. What was different about them?

Sharon's voice brought him out of his musings. "I. Owe. Him," she carefully enunciated.

"How's that?"

"Don't play stupid, Doc, it really doesn't become you," she retorted. The old man just continued to watch her face, as though he'd remain silent until she spoke. Even though every minute wasted could mean the difference between Cally's life and death. That thought made her relent.

"I ruined his life once before," she admitted softly. "And he's rebuilt it with…with her," she couldn't bring herself to say Cally's name. "He's already lost his child, he can't lose his wife too, not if I have the means stop it."

The doctor hesitated only briefly, as though measuring the sincerity of her words. At last he began to speak, carefully instructing her of the whereabouts of the needed tools. Sharon listened intently, committing his list of equipment and locations to memory. She wouldn't allow herself to fail, for the Chief's sake, she couldn't.

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"Caprica Six. What a surprise to find you here," Dorel said from the tent's opening. "Quite a step down from Colonial One, isn't it? But I forget Gina's there to take care of the President now."

She turned towards him, giving him a disdainful look even as her mind raced. How much had he heard of her conversation with Roslin? It couldn't be much, not if he was taunting her with Gina and Gaius rather than demanding they hand over the child. "Dorel," she acknowledged briefly before turning her attention back to the former president.

Fear was evident on the Laura's face; she was oblivious to the gibes about Gina, that they were proof that Hera was safe from him, at least in the short term.

"What are you doing here, **_Caprica_** Six?" the smarmy little Cylon demanded as he stepped towards them, gloating smile on his face as usual. It was impossible to see that smile without thinking that perhaps he was three steps ahead of whatever you were planning.

Six thought quickly, hoping that Roslin proved better at lying then she did concealing her emotions. She smiled at him as she formulated a plan. What better way to get back at Dorel than to throw his mocking of the name the other Cylons had bestowed upon her for her part in their victory right back into his face and use it for her cover story. "I was curious to see how your grand new history of the 12 colonies was coming along. And what **_my_** role in it would be."

The not so subtle innuendo that he would somehow downplay the important part she'd played in the invasion of colonies wasn't lost on the vain little Cylon, momentarily wiping the smile from his face. It was a shallow victory for Six, but a victory nonetheless. She knew that if, in is vanity, he downplayed her role in the Cylon victory, it would lead others of their kind to accusations of jealousy on his part. However, criticizing her for boasting of it would do the same. He was trapped and he knew it. Cylons were supposed to be equals after all.

"Your work in securing access to the human defense network will of course be noted," he hedged.

"And what about my accomplice?" she asked, sparing a brief glance at Roslin. Laura's confusion was as evident on her face as her fear, and for a moment Six was uncertain if she should continue. This would be the risky part of her ploy. If Dorel bought into her boasting, it may help to divert some of the little Cylon's suspicions away from where her loyalties lie. If he didn't, if he pursued the truth about why she was in this tent and saw the child himself, nothing Six could do would protect her. And any thoughts she may have had about saving humans from extinction would be lost. She went with her instincts.

"Will President Baltar's name go down in this new history? Will you make him known as the man who helped bring about the end of the human race?"

Roslin's sharply indrawn breath was the only sound in the tent for a few moments, drawing the attention of both Cylons to her. Six shot her a look so loaded with meaning you could almost hear her say, 'Do not say anything he'll make you regret.'

"Does that surprise you _President _Roslin?" Dorel took the opportunity to sneer at her. He was actually surprised, and pleased even, that Six had made the announcement of Baltar's betrayal. Perhaps she wasn't entirely a threat to the Cylon people after all. "How does it feel to know that one of your own is almost single-handedly responsible for the downfall of the human race? And that your people foolishly elected him as their leader," he gloated. "A man who very willingly surrendered his people with absolutely no thought of fighting back."

To her credit, Laura recovered quickly, although she was still flustered as she started to speak. She'd come to suspect the worst about Baltar, but nothing had prepared her for the outright brutal truth of his betrayals. Taking a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke, she fought the urge to look at the female Cylon she now knew was called 'Caprica Six.'

"Not exactly," she responded coolly. Oddly enough, once she began speaking a calmness she hadn't expected washed over her. "We've always suspected that there had to be a leak in our defenses somewhere. I thank you for confirming my….. suspicions about the current president of the colonies. And for introducing me to his accomplice, although I must admit, she did a rather nice job of doing that herself. Caprica Six. Caprica. An honorary name for her role in the holocaust I presume."

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Kara was still fuming over her meeting with Leobon as she stomped back towards the building site. She was desperately trying to figure out what the Cylon's game was. What was his interest in her childhood? In her? Was this just about revenge for her part of his interrogation and death aboard the Galactica?

The anger he'd provoked in her left her wanting to punch someone. Or drown herself in a bottle of ambrosia, although that usually landed her back in the wanting to punch someone frame of mind. Either way, she longed for a punching bag and the gym aboard the Galactica. The Galactica. Why had she ever let Sam talk her into leaving? She shook her head, not wanting to dwell on those thoughts.

Instead, she focused on her meeting with Leobon once more. She'd gotten some satisfaction out of the knowledge that she'd thrown him a little bit, asking him about his experience in the airlock. About his fears, his death. He hadn't quite been prepared for her to question him back, leastwise not about that. No, he'd been expecting her to ask about Caprica. Maybe even for her to beg for the answers she craved. But that didn't explain his questions.

Pondering what he'd asked her, trying to look for some hint or clue of what he was after, she was nearly oblivious to her surroundings, right up until she crashed into Sam.

"Kara? Where've you been? I've been looking all over for you."

He grasped her upper arms in his hands, turning her to face him. For a moment she couldn't meet his eyes, guilt over the secrets she'd kept from him weighing heavily on her mind.

She fought to get her emotions under control, to focus her anger solely on its cause: Leobon.

"Kara, where were you?" he asked again. She could hear the worry in voice as well as the anger. And there was no doubt Sam was angry with her.

She debated with herself for all of half a second before coming to a decision. "Not here, there's too many of them around."

He knew instinctively who 'them' was, the Cylons. "Our tent. Now," he responded curtly, releasing his hold on her left arm, and adjusting his hold on the other until he was propelling her forward. She dug her heels into the dirt, resisting.

"By the Gods Sam! Why the frak don't you just announce it to the toasters," she bit out.

They came to a halt, both glaring at each other. "Ten minutes, our tent," he said, fear of the unknown lending fuel to his anger. "Then you can tell me what the frak 'it' is that you don't want the toasters knowing about.

"Ten minutes," she agreed, thankful for the reprieve. It gave her a few more minutes to come up with a coherent explanation. Sam wasn't going to like this dangerous new game of hers any more than she did.

With a final long look into each others' eyes, they parted, each heading in the opposite direction.

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William Adama hastened towards the detention cells, his son hot on his heels.

"Admiral, what are you going to say to him?" Apollo asked to his father's back.

William's step hardly faltered at the question. He was back to being 'Admiral' to his son, always a good indication of Lee's anger with him. "I'll decide after I know how much she's told him," he answered vaguely.

"You're making a mistake."

"Possibly, but it won't be the first one I've made in life. Gods willing it won't be the last," the old man answered as they reached the hatchway. Without pausing, he spun the latch, pulling the entryway open and striding inside.


	14. Chapter 14

"All right, Kara, what's going on? Why all the secrecy?" Sam demanded as soon as she crossed the threshold. She didn't respond at first, brushing past him and crossing their cramped living quarters until she reached the bed. Wearily she dropped down to sit on the edge, her elbows resting on her knees.

"You may as well sit down, it's kind of a long story," she suggested as she watched him pace angrily across the crowded room.

Frustrated, he stalked over to the stack of crates that served as their dinner table and grabbed hold of one of the rickety wooden chairs that sat around it. Swinging it around so the back of it pointed towards her, he sat down, his legs straddling the sides of it while his crossed arms rested along the top of the backrest. "Okay, I'm sitting. Talk."

Her head drooped down until it rested in her hands for a moment, as though she were gathering her thoughts, carefully choosing which words to say to him. Without raising her head, her hands shifted, carefully smoothing back the strands of hair that had escaped her pony tail. At last she met his eyes.

"It all started a long time ago, back before I had any idea you and the others were still alive on Caprica. We'd captured a Cylon spy and had him imprisoned on the Galactica. He went by the name of Leobon Conroy, and I was given illustrious task of interrogating him."

"Why you?"

"I don't know, maybe the Commander liked the way I could get a man to talk to me," she tried to joke.

"I thought you were a pilot. Didn't they have people who knew what they were doing to do the interrogation work?"

"Hey, I knew what I was doing," she protested. "And it's not like we had a whole lot of specially trained interrogators on board either!" It pissed her off more than she wanted to admit that he would doubt her abilities. She could do anything she put her mind to doing, he should know that. She'd come back to rescue him from Caprica hadn't she?

"But why you? A pilot."

"So I was a pilot. I also played sniper on occasion when the situation warranted it and I excelled at being an all around pain in the ass. What better choice for an interrogator than someone who can annoy the hell out of anyone, prisoners included, until they spill their guts just to get you to shut the frak up?"

"Okay! Point taken," he conceded with a short laugh, waving his hands up as though warding off any incoming blows she may feel like sending his way. "I still don't get what any of that has to do with where you were."

"Well if you'd be patient and quit interrupting me to ask all these dumb questions I'd get to that."

"Okay, no more questions. At least until you're through anyway."

She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head before continuing. "I was a real hard ass with him, during the questioning I mean. I kept saying over and over how he was a machine, that he wasn't human. And I dished out the abuse, beatings, near drowning, withholding food, anything I could think of that would break a normal human." She looked away as she made that last admission, as if she were uncomfortable with the thoughts that were now filling her mind.

"But in the end, I realized that I'd done it all wrong."

"Wha….How so?" he asked, breaking his vow of not asking questions while she spoke in less than five minutes. But he still couldn't quite grasp what she was trying to convey to him.

"I did things that would break a normal human, but he wasn't a human. I kept calling him a machine, the whole time I was doing it I called him a machine, but after he was gone I realized that it was more for my benefit than to demoralize him."

"I don't understand."

"I did it as a way to keep reminding myself that he wasn't human, because he sure acted like one. And he bled like one. And he had the same fear of dying that we all do."

"He was still the enemy."

"Maybe. But somehow he knew me, Sam, he really **_knew_** me," she stressed. "He knew my weaknesses. He probably knew when I started softening up towards him, not that I ever let on. I'd cut a deal with him to give us information in exchange for his continued existence. That was his big fear, you know. That he wasn't close enough to one of those resurrection ships to be able to download if his physical body was lost."

"Sounds reasonable."

"But President Roslin didn't think so. He was the enemy. A spy at best, a terrorist at worst. She jettisoned him out of the airlock like he was already dead. And I just stood there and watched," she told him, a far away look in her eyes. She wasn't even looking at him anymore, her head turned slightly towards the doorway. For a minute Sam wondered if she was picturing the Cylon disappearing out into the blackness of space all over again.

"What then? If he was killed, I mean."

"We didn't really have any way of knowing whether or not he was really dead. Were the Cylons close enough to download to a new body and stuff like that."

"I'm still lost here. What does any of that have to do with where you were at? What, did he suddenly materialize here?" Sam joked. His laughter slowly slipped away as he caught sight of the pained expression on her face.

"That's it, isn't it? He's here on New Caprica."

"Yes."

"And that's who you were with?"

"Yes."

"By the gods, Kara, why?"

She stood up, unzipping her jacket and shrugging out of it. She tossed it onto the bed before reaching for her shirt, jerking it upwards. "Remember this, Sam?" She gestured towards the fading scar on the lower left side of her abdomen. "My little souvenir from my days as a guest at the farm, courtesy of some Cylon."

He nodded, reaching out his hand to run a lone finger along the pale ridge the scar had become. "He did this to you?" he asked, barely concealed rage filling his voice.

"No. I don't know. Maybe. I don't think so," she said, uncertain of anything at this point. "But he came to me not long after they invaded. We did our usual verbal fencing and I didn't see him again ….not until the other night when Cally went into labor."

"What'd he want?"

"He's playing some sort of game, asking me questions about my childhood and frakked up stuff like that."

"So why are you playing along?"

"He told me if I answered his questions he'd tell me what they did to me. Like I said, Sam, he knows me, knows I wouldn't give up the opportunity to find out what those bastards did."

"And you really think he'll tell you what you want to know?"

"I don't know. But I'm willing to risk it."

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"How could you do it, sir?" an angry Helo asked, suddenly filling the old man's vision as he crossed the room to Sharon's detention cell.

"It was the President's decision…."

"Frak the President! I'm asking you, how could **_you_** take my child! How could you let me think she was dead?" Helo's voice broke slightly, remembering the heartbreak of seeing that tiny unmoving body before his eyes all over again.

"It wasn't my choice, son," William responded, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder. Helo flinched away and Adama's hand fell limply to his side once more.

"You could have stopped it," Helo insisted.

"You're right, I could have," William admitted meeting Helo's eyes. "But I chose to go along with President Roslin's decision. She was right, son. A prison cell was no place for a child to be raised."

"She didn't have to be raised in a cell."

Ignoring Helo's statement, William continued, "And there was no guarantee she'd be safe anywhere else. Not on this ship, not on any other ship in the fleet."

"Sharon would never have hurt our child."

William sighed, gesturing towards the cells where the two Brother Cavils sat watching. "There were spies among us, there could still be more. Ask yourself what they would have done if the information had gotten out to the general population that a human-Cylon hybrid child existed. Then ask yourself why they're so determined to get their hands on such a child."

"You think I haven't thought about that?"

"Now ask yourself what your own people would have done to them if Sharon had been allowed to roam free on the ship with her hybrid child."

His words caught Helo off guard; he'd been prepared for anything but that line of reasoning. He couldn't deny it was possible that one of his own people could have caused Sharon and Hera harm. He'd heard the story about how Cally had killed the other Sharon, the one he'd worked with all those months before the invasion, the one he'd thought had come back to Caprica to save him. And if a cupcake like Cally was capable of shooting an unarmed, bound prisoner who'd once been her shipmate at point blank range, there was no telling what a real soldier would have been willing to do.

Watching the play of emotions crossing the other man's face, William made the attempt to reach out to him once more. "I understand how you feel, son," he said, squeezing Helo's shoulder. This time the pilot didn't pull away. "I've lost a child of my own before, and I know that nothing can **_ever_** erase the pain. But you're going to get the opportunity to see yours again, the Gods willing; when we get to New Caprica you'll see her again. I promise you that."

Still the younger man remained silent, his mind reeling. Everything had been so simple when he'd climbed from his bunk that morning, now he felt as though his entire world had been turned upside down yet again. Gathering his thoughts he spoke.

"I want her out of that cell."

"It still might not be safe for her among the general crew," William protested. "There's hardly a person left in the fleet who doesn't have someone, family or friend, whose fate on New Caprica is still uncertain. They could look towards harming the pris….harming Sharon as a means of retribution," he added.

"I want her **_out_** of that cell."

"When we're closer to New Caprica, it'll be safer for her then. We'll be more focused on our strategy for a counter attack."

"Now."

Lee had remained silent, choosing to listen to the confrontation up until now. To a certain degree he agreed with his father about Sharon's safety among the crew being a questionable thing. But he also agreed with Helo to an extent too, she'd been a prisoner long enough. How could they expect her to help them when they so obviously weren't showing any willingness to trust her? He made his decision. "We'll take her back to the Pegasus with us."

"Lee…"

"We're going back to New Caprica, you already said as much," Lee pointed out. "What difference does it matter which battlestar she travels on?"

The two men sized each other up like a couple of opponents in a boxing ring. William was surprised he hadn't anticipated this move from his son. It was typical Lee though, going against his father's wishes.

"Sergeant!" William called out to the Duty Sergeant. "I want you to escort the prisoner to my quarters. I wish to speak with her."

He strode towards the word without so much as a word to his son or Helo. As he reached the door he heard Helo mumbling something into the receiver, then the sound of it being returned to its cradle. Two pairs of footsteps hurried after him, but still he didn't speak until they stepped out into the corridor with him.

"I want to speak to Sharon alone. You two can wait in ready room. **_If _**she chooses to accompany you back to the Pegasus we'll meet you there. If not, I'll send word."

"But sir.."

"That's an order Captain Agathon," the Admiral said, deciding it was time to pull rank. He assumed Helo would argue further, but to his amazement the pilot turned on his heel instead and stalked away, anger showing in every step.

"What do you have to use against her besides her child?" Lee asked quietly, fighting the urge to follow after his friend. These were some things that took precedence, even over the need to offer solace to a friend.

"Nothing."

"Okay, I'll bite. What makes you so certain she'll choose to stay on the Galactica?" Lee knew his father, there had to be something the old man was holding back from them.

"I believe I gave you an order, Commander."

Lee nodded grudgingly. He wasn't the only one who resorted to military rank and protocol when he was upset it seemed.

"One hour. Then we'll be joining you in your quarters."

"I said…."

"I know what your orders were. And I'm telling you I have premeditated designs to disobey. You have one hour to talk to her alone, then we're joining you."

"Premeditated designs?"

Lee smiled. "I guess Kara rubbed off on me a little more than I remembered. If you don't like it, you could always toss me in the Brigg."

Fighting back his own grin William retorted, "You're cutting into my hour here Commander."

The two men parted, each heading in the opposite direction. They would have been shocked to learn that they both shared one common thought as they did. What the hell was William going to say to Sharon once he had her alone?

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"Her color's looking better, isn't it, Doc?" Chief Tyrol asked for about hundredth time since the old doctor had arrived in their tent, equipment in hand, for a last ditch effort to keep Cally from joining her baby.

"Perhaps. It's really too early to say for certain," the old man answered cautiously. He checked the unconscious woman's pulse and was relieved to see that it seemed stronger. She had a long way to go before she was out of danger though.

"I think she looks a little better," the Chief announced, as though saying it enough times would make it happen. He stroked his hand across her cheek gently; her face was still as pale as the sheets she lay upon, despite his proclamations to the contrary. "Where'd you get all these supplies from? I don't remember seeing them before."

"They were scattered about on some of the ships. An anonymous friend collected them for me today." Although it was on the tip of his tongue to tell Galen the truth, Doc Cottle thought wiser of it. Maybe if Cally pulled through he could tell the devastated man that he owed his wife's life to a Cylon. In the meantime, the Chief's hatred of the Cylons went too deep, he'd never believe that Sharon willingly offered her help. She was just another Cylon after all.

Sharon. She still thought of herself as one of the humans, of that the old doctor had little doubt. And it was clear to him that she had memories of her life among them on board the Galactica, her death too most likely. Yet her memories now lived on in a brand new body. Memories that were strong enough to make her feel as though she'd lived through every minute that the other Sharon had.

Was that what drove her now? Guilt over her own involuntary acts of sabotage that had lead to the deaths of people she'd thought of as her friends. Guilt over how her own attempted suicide had ended in failure. Guilt over her assassination attempt on the Admiral, a man who'd seemed very much like a father figure to her.

Did she think a single act of kindness, saving the life of her own murderer, would be enough to assuage her guilt? Or was this only a shadow of things to come?

"Doc?" Galen's voice asked, breaking through the physician's musings.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't hear you. I was thinking about what our best course of treatment would be," he fibbed.

"I just asked who the anonymous friend is. I'd really like to thank them; they took a lot of risk sneaking that equipment out from under the toasters."

"They're not looking for gratitude. They just want to help."

"Why won't you tell me who it is?"

"Our good Samaritan prefers to remain anonymous."

Galen was silent. Sitting down beside his wife he softly brushed the hair from Cally's face as he pondered what the old doctor was trying to hide from him. If he hadn't lost his faith in the Gods, what with the revelation that Brother Cavil was a Cylon agent and all, he'd have been praying to them to spare his wife. And for retribution against their Cylon captors. He wanted nothing short of the death of all Cylon kind. Humanity had suffered enough at their hands.


	15. Chapter 15

Where are the weapons now?" Colonel Tigh demanded without preamble the moment Jammer entered the temple. The younger man kneeled down before the altar, bowing his head a moment in respect before responding.

"We split them up, for the time being anyway. We're floating them from tent to tent among the resistance, but we can't keep that up for long. We need to find a more permanent home for them. Everyone's getting nervous the toasters are going to find the guns in their possession and execute them on site."

It was a not so subtle reminder that they were walking a dangerous line by trying to hide guns and ammunition from the Cylons. Two weeks before seven of their members had been shot while trying to bury a crate of guns in the forest. Ever since then their small band of resistance had been pushed to the edge trying to come up with new places to stash their small supply of munitions. It wasn't helping them garner new recruits to their cause either.

"What about the rest of our weapons?"

Jammer rose to his feet, meeting the old Colonel's eyes across the top of the altar. "So far they seem to be secure. I don't know where Gaeta's been getting his information about when and where the toasters are searching, but so far he's been able to warn us before they make a move."

"Too bad he couldn't have shared some of that wisdom two weeks ago. He could have saved some lives," Tigh argued.

"We didn't know the toasters were on to us then."

"We can't let ourselves become too dependent on Gaeta's information, if he's spying on them, it's only a matter of time before they figure it out, and when they do he's as good as dead."

"I'm sure he's well aware of the risks, Colonel. We all are."

"I'm not concerned about that," Tigh responded, uncaring of the callousness of his words. "We need to be prepared to act if we lose our informant."

Jammer chose to ignore the old man's words and instead broached another potential problem. "There's been some talk that Anders' group has managed to squirrel away some considerable firepower but no one seems to know where."

"That's no good. What use are weapons if we can't get our hands on them?"

"Not exactly no one, Sir. The remnants of the Caprica resistance have been very active in getting the weapons out of the encampment and concealed."

"Anders' people," scoffed Tigh. "Our people are the ones with all of the tactical military experience; they should be joining our ranks, not going off half-cocked on their own."

"They may not have our training, Sir, but they sure as hell managed to survive back on Caprica. Not only that, but they managed to cause the toasters plenty of trouble in the process. They're organized and ready to fight."

"We should be combining our efforts," argued Tigh.

"Agreed, but at least we know what they're capable of. We can work on Starbuck; get her to bring Anders' group into our fold."

"What about the Chief? He was in pretty tight with Anders' people before the invasion. How soon can we expect him to be rejoining the fight?"

"By the Gods, Colonel! The man just lost his child; he might still lose his wife! The last thing on his mind right now is where to hide a bunch of guns, much less the resistance movement."

"Nothing is more important than fighting back. Nothing, you'd do well to remember that."

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As Sharon was escorted down the corridor towards the Admiral's quarters she couldn't help but wonder what he would throw at her to try and convince her to say on board his ship. He wanted her to remain his prisoner, of that she was certain. She almost smiled as she recalled the look on his face when his own son had offered her sanctuary aboard the Pegasus. That's what she saw it as anyway.

Most of those thoughts were pushed aside as she stepped inside the Admiral's quarters. There her attention was drawn to a news program airing on a small screen. The fact that the humans still felt the need to broadcast some sort of news despite most of them now being imprisoned back on New Caprica wasn't what piqued her curiosity. No, it was more of a matter of who was reporting that drew her attention.

"Sergeant, remove the prisoner's restraints and wait outside."

The order returned Sharon's attention to the matter at had. What was the Admiral's game? Did he think he could earn her trust again that easily?

"But Admiral…"

"It's okay, son. Remove her restraints and wait outside," William commanded once again.

With reluctance, the soldier did as he was ordered for the second time that day. He paused briefly as he exited the room, turning once to look at the prisoner. The look he sent to Sharon spoke volumes, and she could practically hear his thoughts. 'I'll be right outside this door and I will bust through it shooting if I think you're causing the old man any harm.'

She had to admit it, if only to herself, the loyalty of the fleet to their Admiral was commendable, if a little misguided. After all, he'd locked her up when all she'd wanted to do was live peaceably among them with Helo and Hera. And apparently he allowed D'Anna Biers free access to the fleet. Sometimes it amazed her that the human race had survived this long.

"Have a seat….Sharon," William said, gesturing towards the small sofa.

She hesitated a few moments, turning to the newscast again, before finally settling herself on the edge of a cushion. "That must have been difficult for you."

"What?"

"Using my name again, humanizing me. Makes it harder for you to treat me like an animal doesn't it?" Her voice was cold and her eyes watched him, measuring for any sign of weakness.

"I can't say I don't have some….regrets, about how you've been treated." He turned away as he spoke, reaching for the volume control. Had she been paying attention to his actions rather than his words, Sharon would have been surprised to realize he was leaving the broadcast on. Sharing information about the fleet with her, if she'd cared to view it.

Instead, Sharon laughed humorlessly at his comment. "**_Regrets_**? You lock me in a cell, steal my child, then use her against me to…to blackmail me into cooperating with you and I'm supposed to go along with it all because you have some regrets?"

"No. But I do ask that you at least hear me out."

"I'm listening."

"I put you in that detention cell for a number of reasons, first and foremost because you are one of the enemy."

"All I ever did was help your people. **_I _**stole the freighter that returned Starbuck, Helo, and the Arrow of Apollo to you. **_I _**saved your life on Kobol. **_I _**eliminated the Cylon virus from the Galactica and turned it against my own kind. How did that make me the enemy?"

"You were still one of them, no matter what your actions to the contrary may have been. The other Sharon, she sabotaged the ship without ever seeming to be consciously aware of what she was doing. It was almost like she was being controlled by remote. How were we to know if you'd be any different?" he countered.

She wasn't surprised by the question; it was something she herself had pondered during the long course of her captivity. She shared with him her own theory. "The difference is in the awareness."

"I don't understand."

"The Boomer you knew was a sleeper agent, unaware of her own true nature until the time came for her to be activated. Up until then she saw herself as Sharon Valerii, human. She had the same memories of her family, of her childhood that any other soldier in the fleet would have had. She remembered the tragic death of her parents like she'd actually lived through it. For all intents and purposes, she was human."

Sharon hesitated, expecting the Admiral to ask questions. When he remained silent she continued on.

"Then the attack came, and once we realized how many humans had managed to escape the destruction of the colonies, she was activated along with the rest of the sleepers. But in her case, she took to her humanization too fully, the memories, the friendships, her life, it all worked against her. In the end, her conscious mind couldn't accept what her programming demanded of her."

"The blackouts," Adama murmured. "She wiped out the memories of what she was doing to hurt the fleet."

"Exactly. I guess you could say it's the first documented case of a Cylon with split personality disorder."

"So how can we be certain that that type of thing won't happen to you?" William asked, finally voicing aloud one of his greatest fears about her. In his mind he was seeing her standing in front of him on the bridge once more, bandage on her cheek, weapon in hand. It took him a moment to remember that it wasn't the same Sharon that now sat before him.

She leaned forward, resting her elbows against her knees and focusing her attention solely on him as she tried to explain just what it was that separated her from the other Sharon.

"I'm not a sleeper agent," she said at last. "I operate with my own free will. I knew exactly what I was being assigned to do when I infiltrated the human ranks by joining up with Helo. I just never thought I'd fall in love with him."

"Love," he said bitterly. "What do a bunch of machines know about love?"

"We're flesh and blood creatures, just like yourself."

"You're a machine."

"Partially," she conceded. "But we're still human enough to share your functions, eating, sleeping, breathing, reproduction. We feel emotions, love, hate, fear, desire."

"That's just programming," he argued.

"No. The programming just gives us the basics, memories of a past, a childhood we never experienced, family we never had. It's what God creates for us. The rest of it…I don't know how to explain. I experienced life, just like any other person. The choices I made, those were mine. If I'd followed my programming, I'd still be apart of the Cylon collective. I would have left Helo to die on Caprica..." Her voice trailed off. This was not how she'd planned this meeting to go. She'd expected Adama to threaten, to grovel…to do anything but just talk to her.

More surprising still, despite all of her anger, she couldn't seem to hold anything back. For once they were both laying their cards out on the table, trying to understand why they'd done the things they'd done. It triggered memories of what she knew of the other Boomer, the relationship the old man had once held with most of his crew. Maybe she could understand after all the loyalty to this man by the remnants of the fleet.

"It's hard for me to separate you in my mind," William admitted grudgingly.

"The other Sharon."

"Yes, you and Boomer. I look at you and I still see her, bandaged face, flight suit…that expressionless face….and then the gun raises…."

"I'm not that Sharon. And she wasn't the Sharon you knew either, not in that moment."

William nodded silently. It was harder than he'd imagined it would be, reliving that moment. He was a little surprised at himself for allowing this conversation to go as far as it had. He'd hoped to play against the emotions this Sharon had always professed to having. He'd hoped to use them against her and convince her to help them on his terms. Instead here he was confessing to her his greatest fears, reliving his brush with death.

"You're saying she was experiencing one of those black outs again?"

"Most likely. From the memories of her that I share…"

"I thought you weren't connected that way?" he asked, his voice taking on a harshness that she recognized as fear.

"We're not. I have the same childhood memories programmed into me as your Boomer did. Then I was provided all the minute, seemingly unimportant details of her life among you, her friends, lovers, favorite foods even…..everything. I was given all the tools to become the Sharon you knew, to a degree anyway. "

"What do you mean given?"

"Our spies aboard your ships provided me with the information I needed."

"Dorel and Leobon," William supplied.

"Among others," she agreed. "Any time a Raider came in close enough range, it was possible for one of the agents to download their reconnaissance reports."

Her casual acknowledgement that there had indeed been other agents among the fleet, on his ship frustrated him more than it surprised him. And the knowledge of how easily the information could be passed on to the Cylon fleet staggered him. How many times had it happened right before their unknowing eyes?

Something else bothered him about her confession too. Brother Cavil had been discovered on board the Galactica, and the escaped Cylon from the Pegasus had destroyed the Cloud Nine. How long had she known about them? Was she lying about being unable to communicate with them somehow?

As if reading his mind, she answered his unspoken question. "I knew back on Caprica that the Cavil we found with the Resistance was a Cylon, but I didn't know about the one on the Galactica until he was brought into the detention center," she admitted. "As for the other one, you can hide me away from all the newscasts in the fleet, but the rumors will still spread, even to your prisoners."

It seemed a reasonable explanation, but William couldn't shake that lingering doubt in his mind. Was she really telling him the truth?

"It's been nearly an hour," she announced suddenly. "I'd like to return to the Pegasus with Helo and Apollo now."

"You'll be much safer here on the Galactica," he argued.

"In a detention cell," she said, her voice full of disdain.

"Whether you want to admit it or not there are still plenty of people left in the fleet who'd like nothing better than to see you dead."

"I'll take my chances."

"You'll be of more use to our battle strategy…"

"Battle strategy? You're really grasping at straws here," she chuckled.

"How can I be sure you'll keep up your end of the bargain?"

"You can't, not any more than I can be sure you'll uphold your end. Or that you've spoken the truth at all. So until we're both standing on New Caprica, and I'm holding Hera in my arms, we'll both just have to wonder."

She rose to her feet, looking at him expectantly before saying, "I guess I'm free to go join Helo now. Isn't that right? You did make a deal with Lee after all."

He knew she was testing him now, waiting to see if he would keep his word. "Yes, you're free to go. I'll see that the Sergeant escorts you to the ready room."

She nodded, following him to the door and waiting silently as he gave the Marine his orders. She fought back a smile at the expression of horror on the guard's face when William waved off the restraints. As the guard began leading her away, she paused, turning to the Admiral one more time.

"That reporter, the one on the newscast when I walked in," she said.

"D'Anna Biers. What about her?"

"I just thought you'd be interested in knowing that she's a Cylon." This time, as she turned away and strode after the guard she didn't resist the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. The game was on, and she'd just scored.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: The fall out from the meeting between Sharon Valerii and William Adama is just beginning.


	16. Chapter 16

When Jammer returned to his tent after a rather fruitless trip to the marketplace he was taken by surprise to see Chief Tyrol waiting outside the front flap. His first thought was that maybe something had happened to Cally, but he quickly dismissed that idea. The Chief was way too calm for that to be the case, so it had to be something else. Maybe he was ready to return to the movement.

"Chief! It's good to see you," the younger man called out, hurrying forward. "How's Cally? I heard she was doing better, but are you sure you should be leaving her alone now?" It was as good a question as any to get the answers he wanted, sounding concerned for Cally's well-being, rather than an outright request if the Chief was back. You never knew if the toasters were listening, and with those turncoats joining up with the so-called New Caprica police force you never knew who you could trust.

"It's good to be seen," Tyrol answered, no emotion showing on his face. "Cally's almost back to 100," he added. It wasn't quite the truth, but telling himself that little white lie helped him get through the terror of almost losing her. He'd lost one woman that he'd loved before; he wasn't going to lose another. "But she's not alone, Duck and Nora volunteered to sit with her for awhile, give me a chance to hit the marketplace and look for some fresh food.

"Not much of that to be found I'm afraid."

"So I've noticed."

"Why don't you come on in," Jammer suggested, gesturing towards the tent. Tyrol nodded, preceding the younger man inside.

"I came to see how the fight goes," Tyrol admitted quietly once they were settled inside the tent sitting across from each other at a small table.

Jammer leaned forward, his hands coming to rest on the table top, fingers laced together loosely. "Have you heard anything?" he asked cautiously.

"Just what we've all heard, that the toasters are starting to pick up people they've declared to be troublemakers."

"That's right."

"They're claiming they're looking for information about illegal weapons and things that go boom in the night," the Chief continued hoping to prod more of an answer from the younger man.

"The Colonel says it's our duty to fight back and cause the toasters as much trouble as we can until the Galactica comes back," Jammer told him bluntly.

That sentiment had become the driving force behind the entire resistance movement, do whatever it took to resist and survive until the Admiral came back to rescue them all. The only flaw to that plan was the fact that more than two-thirds of the people who'd originally populated the fleet were now sitting here behind enemy lines. What kind of a rescue attempt could the old man make with less than 5000 people left in his fleet?

The Chief cleared his throat before asking, "Is it true they picked up Starbuck last week?" He'd heard the rumors, gone in search of Anders, but had come up with nothing.

"Yeah. Anders' people have become regular demons since he found out. They've stepped up their attacks…."

"Frack…"

"You can say that again, Chief."

"Any way of getting messages to them? The ones inside I mean?"

Jammer shook his head. "They're not allowing us access to the inside of the detention center for any reason, not even to visit family members. Once somebody goes in, you don't see them again until they're released….if they're released."

"Has anyone even tried getting a message inside?"

"The information we've received suggests that the toasters have got different levels of security in there. The non-threatening types that are pulled in for questioning are kept in interrogation rooms until they're done with them. The ones that are under heavy suspicion of being part of the resistance, they're locking them away in cells until they've broken them."

"It's nice to know we still have our contact in the ministry, Jammer, but all that doesn't answer my question," Tyrol said impatiently.

"The low-level prisoners aren't in there long enough to make the effort, the others…..I don't know. They're guarded by those centurions and the humanoids both, if there's a way to contact them I haven't thought of it."

"And where does Starbuck fall in?"

"She wasn't taken in by those fracking traitors in the New Caprica police," Jammer said bitterly. "The toasters dragged her off special."

The Chief was silent, digesting the information Jammer had given him. Mentally he kicked himself for being out of the loop the last few weeks, living and breathing nothing but the restoration of Cally's health. As usual the conflicting emotions those thoughts wrought tore him up inside.

"You should probably know, the Colonel wants to use Starbuck's imprisonment to bring Anders' group back into the fold," Jammer added.

"Why are you telling me that? I happen to agree, we should be working together not against each other."

Suddenly, much closer for comfort than either them liked, gunfire sounded.

"What the frack?" the Chief cried out as the two men bolted for the tent's entry. Outside was chaos, people running for cover and screaming in terror.

"Where's it coming from?" Jammer called out, falling in beside Tyrol as they fought their way through the crowd.

"Sounds like the south-west quadrant of the camp."

"Frack! That's where the temple's at!"

Tyrol knew exactly where the temple was located. It was a holy place, something that the toasters acknowledged and had left alone until now. Why now? He wondered as the clouds overhead parted and rays of sun shined down onto the camp for the first time in days, glittering off the metal of the centurions as they marched away from the wreckage they'd wrought in the temple.

* * *

The sound of silence was nearly deafening to Kara's ears. Until now she'd never realized how accustomed she'd come to all the noise in her life. She'd grown up listening to her mother's drunken rants, went off the academy to be yelled at by instructors and survive simulated battle training, and eventually found herself on board the Galactica. Nothing was ever silent on a battlestar, the close quarters of your fellow crew, the steady hum of her engines and life support systems. You learned how to drown that out and forget any of it existed until you were locked away in a prison like this, she thought.

She'd lost track of how long she'd been imprisoned here, days, weeks….. she just couldn't keep track of it anymore. Not that it was like any cell she'd ever done time in; it was hell and gone from the brig on the Galactica of which she was intimately familiar. This prison looked more like your run of the mill middle-class apartment from back on Caprica City, but there was no doubting what it was. From the single door in that was always locked to her nearly constant solitary status it was most definitely a cell.

"Kara, honey, I'm home!" a voice called from the top of the stairs that lead to the lone entry point. Leobon was back and the sound of his voice sent a shiver of trepidation down her back.

"Look what I managed to get from the marketplace," he said smiling, holding out a small basket of what appeared to be fresh vegetables as though they were a peace offering.

Kara didn't reply, didn't even spare him a glance, choosing to instead remain focused on the wall across from where she sat. The silence, however, failed to have their desired effect as, undaunted; Leobon continued to bestow her with seemingly endless prattle about vegetables and the marketplace.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, finally changing the subject when he noticed he wasn't get anywhere with the other topic. "You must be, you haven't had anything to eat all day…."

That finally drew Kara's attention to him, but not in a way he liked. Before he saw what was coming Kara pounced, the kitchen knife she'd hidden up her sleeve sliding into her hand a second before she rammed it with all her might through his neck, severing what would be the jugular vein on a real human. He gasped his eyes going wide as she pulled the blade out and jammed it into his neck over and over again as blood gurgled from his mouth. She finally stopped as he collapsed to the ground, blood streaming out of the wounds.

Watching him bleed out as though he was an animal in a lab, she reached down and grabbed one of the carrots that had fallen free when he'd dropped the basket. Wiping it off she took a bite and waited. With his last bit of strength Leobon whispered, "I'll see you in the morning."

Even after she was sure he was dead, Kara couldn't stop himself from kneeling beside his body and checking for any signs of life. 'See you in the morning,' he'd said. How many times would she have to kill him before he stopped coming back? The thought brought such an unexpected feeling of helplessness that she suddenly found herself sitting there with tears rolling down her face. With a sob, she bolted to her feet, dashing wildly up the steps until she slammed her shoulder full force into the locked door at the top. A jarring pain shot through her body.

"Somebody! Help me please!" she cried out, turning her back to the door until she leaned against it. She couldn't hear a sound outside of her own ragged breathing.

"Help me," she said her voice barely a whisper now. She felt her knees begin to buckle and wearily she slid down the door until she was seated on the top step. Nobody was coming, she was all alone.

Memories of her childhood came crashing back to her, thoughts of those long lonely nights spent wondering when her mother would come home, if she'd come home. Those were followed by memories of loss, Zack's death, so many of the Galactica's crew, everyone she'd ever cared about she seemed to lose. Sam. What was he going through now? Did he think she was dead? And Lee, where was he now? She hugged her arms around herself and gave herself up to the tears she'd been holding back for so long.

After awhile, spent from the emotional upheaval, Kara dozed off, her back pressed against the door. She wasn't sure how long she slept, but as she came awake she realized there were footsteps coming closer to the other side of the door. Quickly she scrubbed her hands over her face, wishing there was some way to remove the telltale signs of her recent crying jag. She rose to her feet, pivoting towards the door just as it opened.

"Did you miss me?" he asked, a smile lighting Leobon's features as he looked at her. She could tell by his face he was curious about the crying, wondering if perhaps she'd felt remorse over killing him.

"Obviously not, since you had to go get yourself another knew body," she responded reflexively, not realizing he wasn't alone.

"You're way too lenient on her. I'd have cut out her tongue for her insolence," one of the Dorel models commented as he moved into view behind Leobon.

"She'll come around, won't you Kara?" Leobon asked as they herded her back down the steps. This time she wisely chose to remain silent.

Inside the apartment, Dorel inspected Leobon's corpse still lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor, while Leobon and Kara looked on. Moments later two of the silver centurions loudly descended the steps and marched towards them.

"Remove that," Dorel instructed them, pointing towards the body. While they moved to do his bidding, the little man moved towards the kitchen area. Kara ignored him, watching as the metal monsters hoisted the corpse and hauled it up the steps.

Inside the kitchen, Dorel began searching for knives, pulling them out of every drawer and dropping them loudly onto the counter. He moved quickly and was soon gathering up his find. "I trust there won't be any more stabbings now," he said as he walked towards the steps. He stopped when he reached them, turning towards Leobon.

"Just out of curiosity, exactly how many more times are you planning on letting her kill you?"

"As many as it takes."

* * *

Sharon couldn't help mulling over the dinner conversation she'd found herself having over dinner the night before as she waited for the Raptor to depart for the Galactica and yet another meeting with the Admiral. She'd been dining in the Commander's quarters on the Pegasus with Helo, Lee, and Dee. She'd done it every night since she'd been freed from her cell. Aside from the dark looks from Dee, it'd all seemed friendly enough, although Sharon suspected that those meals together was Lee's way of keeping her away from the general population of the ship. It hadn't taken long for word to get out among the crew that she'd been freed and was living among them. After that, it quickly became evident that the attitude of the crew towards her ranged from curiosity to outright hostility. But it was nothing less than what she'd been expecting.

The dinner conversation had centered on the one thing that occupied everyone's mind, the upcoming rescue mission to New Caprica.

"_There's no way that we're ready to return to New Caprica, not now," she said. "It'd be suicide to try." _

"_What do you mean by that?" Dee demanded. _

_Sharon couldn't understand Dee's chilly attitude towards her. From what Helo had told her Dee had been his staunchest supporter in regards to is relationship with a Cylon. This sudden change in her attitude had her baffled. _

_For Dee's part, she was a little surprised at herself for the same reasons. She tried to justify it by telling herself that she was just worried that they may be putting the lives of what was left of the human race on the line by blindly following a Cylon. _

"_The ships are both in serious need of repairs to bring them even halfway up to fighting strength," Sharon responded. She'd been spending time during the last week touring both ships, accompanied by Helo or the Admiral respectively. During her tour she'd noticed the damages left unfixed and it'd hit home how much below fighting level strength the two mighty warships had fallen._

"_Look, we can't just spend all of our time focusing on training pilots, if we don't have two fully functioning battlestars to back them up, we've got nothing."_

"_There'll be time enough to get the most pressing repairs made," Lee told her. "The Admiral won't be making a move until one of our Raptor's reports back a positive contact with our people on the planet."_

"_What are you talking about? What Raptors? What contact?" Sharon asked, taken by surprise. _

_Across from her Lee grimaced over a well-placed kick from Dee beneath the table. While Lee flashed an accusing look at the other woman, who glared at him in return, Helo took charge of answering Sharon's questions._

"_It was something that the Admiral had worked out with Colonel Tigh before he moved down to the planet. They worked it out that should the worst happen and the Cylons invade, the fleet would jump."_

"_Now there's some big news," Sharon said sarcastically._

_Helo smiled. "Okay, then try this. They agreed about the jump, but they also agreed that every day a Raptor would jump back and wait for our people on the planet to make contact."_

"_And this has been going on…."_

"_Every day since we jumped," Helo finished._

_The three of them sat in silence, watching Sharon's face as she worked this new bit of information through her mind. _

"_Have you made contact?" she asked._

"_Not yet," Lee told her. "But we're hoping they're just having trouble getting a coded signal past the Cylons._

"_That could be hard; they're most likely monitoring channels and blocking anything unauthorized. And if they caught an unauthorized signal they'd find its source."_

"_What then?"_

"_They'll terminate the source, and whoever they find with it."_

The surety that had filled her voice had gone a long way in ruining all of their appetites, and they'd finished the meal in silence before going their separate ways. Helo, as usual, had accompanied her back to the room they shared with the rest of Pegasus' pilots. It was then that she'd broached the topic of another meeting with Adama. She had a plan and she'd need his agreement to pull it off.


	17. Chapter 17

_Baltar spun about, taking in all the death and destruction around him. For a split second he thought he was back on Caprica, just after the Cylon attack, running for his life for some safe place that didn't exist. But then he took a good look around, at the shredded tents and the bodies, human and Cylon alike that littered the ground and he knew, instinctively, that this wasn't Caprica. No, this was much worse; it was the nightmare he had created almost single-handedly._

"_Hello! Hello! Is there anybody out there? Hello!" he cried out desperately, his voice sounding different, even to his own ears. Something was just so wrong about it all. Then he heard it, loud and clear. It was the side of a baby crying._

"_Hello! Is somebody there?" he called again, whirling about in another desperate circle and trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from._

"_Look closer, Gaius," a voice came from behind him, so loud and clear, but more than then that, familiar. He turned about and saw her standing there, clad in the same sexy red dress she'd worn a dozen times before when she'd come to him._

_It hit him suddenly, the red dress. Looking about quickly again he realized that everything around him, down to his own hands, looked drained of color. But not her, no, she was bright and vibrant, like he always saw her._

"_It….it's you, isn't it? You've been away….away for…for…so long," he stammered out._

"_No Gaius, I've always been with you," she purred softly, moving close enough now to run a hand gently down his face. At the feel of her touch his eyes slid shut. It was so familiar, and yet, at the same time so different. Not at all like he experienced every day with…._

"_Gina," she supplied, as though reading his mind. His eyes flew open, surprise all over his face. "Don't act so surprised, Gaius. Did you think I wouldn't notice her? They planned it all along. To come between us," she said cryptically._

_There was no mistaking the angry accusation in her voice; he just wasn't quite sure what brought it on. "But you're….you're just in my head," he babbled. "How can someone come between me and someone that's in my head?"_

_At his words, the gentleness left her touch and he suddenly found the air being choked out of his lungs as her hand slid around his throat and squeezed. _

"_Does this feel like I'm just in your head, Gaius?"_

_He struggled to speak, finally managing to rasp out a harsh, "No!"_

_Almost immediately, that vice-like grip ceased and he was falling to his knees gasping for air. He heard her footsteps as she moved away from him. She paused as he looked up, turning to meet his eyes. "I've followed you through the stars to bring us together again, it's what God wants. He recognizes real love. But it's up to you to decide which is the right path to follow."_

_He opened his mouth to speak, but before anything could come out the baby's shrill cries drew his attention away. He was startled to realize that he'd completely forgotten about the child throughout the whole interchange with Six. He staggered to his feet, looking towards where Six had stood and saw that she was gone. Fighting off the feelings of loss and loneliness that suddenly threatened to overwhelm him he returned to looking for the source of the cries._

_He wasn't entirely alone, he realized, as he finally pinpointed the direction of the cries and rushed towards them. Frantically he began looking and at last saw it, a small movement, the kick of a leg, from within the protective circle of a dead woman's embrace. He knelt down and rolled the dark haired woman's body onto its back and saw the crying child's face for the first time. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Six's voice whisper a single word, "Hera."_

With a start, Baltar came awake, looking about him with the same panicked gaze he'd looked over the decimated camp with. This time, however, he saw the familiar sight of his bedroom on Colonial One. With a sigh of relief he realized it'd all been a dream, nothing more.

"Bad dream, Gaius?"

He looked up in surprise, not realizing she was in the room with him. But it wasn't her, not the one from his mind, his dream, it was Gina.

"Gaius?" she said questioningly.

She was watching him clinically, as though he was some kind of lab experiment. Why had he never noticed it before?

* * *

The scene at the Temple was total chaos when Jammer and Tyrol arrived. People were already trying to help the moaning, crying wounded, but their efforts were hampered by the family and friends of the victims wailing over the bodies of the dead. Tyrol looked searchingly at Jammer for an answer; the guilty look of horror on the younger man's face said it all. But looks weren't enough; Tyrol needed to hear the words. 

"How long have the guns been there?"

"The Colonel had them moved here last week. But he swore to me….to all of us it would only be a few days."

"They knew they were here," Tyrol retorted angrily.

"I knew it was wrong….I knew it, but…….." Jammer trailed off, unable to voice any more when he saw a familiar face among the grieving. "Oh Gods…Duck?"

The heartbroken Viper pilot didn't even hear him, too focused on the body he held in his arms, tears rolling unnoticed down his face.

"Nora," Tyrol whispered as a wave of panic washed over him. If Nora was here then….

"Galen!" Cally's voice cried out and seconds later she came running into his arms.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, pulling her impossibly close, relieved to feel her alive in his arms.

"It's all my fault," she cried. "I wanted to come to the temple…..I wanted to say a prayer for…for James," she choked out the name they'd given their child before his burial. "I begged Nora to come with me….I never thought…."

She couldn't go on any longer, she was crying so hard. Grief for Nora, James, all the pain and suffering they'd experienced since the Cylons had arrived bubbling to the surface at once. The two were completely oblivious as Jammer crossed the short distance to where Duck was still clutching Nora's body.

"By the Gods, Duck, I'm so sorry," he murmured, feeling utterly useless.

"You're sorry?!" the devastated man bit out. "Sorry! You knew those frakking guns were here! You knew and you didn't even warn anybody!"

"Duck…."

"Don't deny it! I know you're one of them!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen, they should have been moved already," Jammer tried to explain. Duck wasn't listening to him though; he was still too caught up in his grief.

Jammer backed slowly away from the scene, taking it all in. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't why he'd joined the resistance. He'd known hiding the weapons here was wrong, yet he hadn't argued hard enough to stop it from happening. Hundreds of people came through this temple, maybe even thousands. If the priestess had been holding ceremony….. He choked back the bile rising in his throat at the thought.

He ran from the tent, no destination in mind. He ran but couldn't escape the cries of grief and pain that seemed to follow him no matter where he went. At last, he found himself in front of the message board in the marketplace, staring at one of the Cylon ads urging humans to enlist in their 'New Caprica Police Force.' He never knew he was being watched.

* * *

Gaeta had listened intently to the arguments coming from within Baltar's office following the attack at the temple. The meetings were happening more and more often as the resistance movement among the humans continued to grow. Baltar was the lone human representative, with D'Ana Biers, Sharon Valerii, Caprica Six, Simon, Doral, Gina, and a pair of Brother Cavils rounding out the cadre. 

"_The incident at the temple was most unfortunate, Baltar, but our people weren't to blame," Doral declared._

"_Incident?! Unfortunate?!" Baltar babbled out. "How can you say that? Surely you're not blaming us….."_

_Gaeta cringed, wondering yet again how he could have helped this man to become president of the colonies. He may have had his disagreements with how Roslin had run things, but compared to Baltar's ineffectual leadership she'd been a gift from the Gods._

"_Yes, it was an unfortunate incident…" Doral began but Baltar, surprisingly, cut him off._

"_There were innocent men, women and children in that temple! And your….your….your metal thugs just mowed them all down!"_

_Doral's eyes narrowed at him. "If your people hadn't broken our unwritten truce by hiding guns there this entire incident could have been avoided. Your people violated the sanctity of their own temple. It was the actions of your own people that caused their deaths." _

"_My people…"_

"_Hid guns inside your temple," Doral reiterated spitefully. "Guns meant to kill Cylons. You didn't really think an offense like that would go unpunished did you?"_

"_I think we're losing sight of what is important here," one of the Brother Cavils said. "We need to use this incident to send out message that this kind of insurrection won't be tolerated. Members of the New Caprica Police are already out gathering up known resistance leaders."_

"_Taking more of their people may raise the number of incidents," Sharon argued. "I'm not sure this is the wisest course of action…."_

Gaeta shook himself loose from the memories of that meeting, remembering that it wasn't safe for him to be walking through the settlement without paying attention to his surroundings. His fellow humans saw him as being nothing more than a collaborator for remaining alongside Baltar following the invasion. Although it hurt to see the looks of hatred from people he'd previously thought of as his friends it was much safer that way. He had never been a fighter, not like the Colonel or Starbuck. No, he was nothing more than a glorified computer technician, but that was okay. He would use his brains to help the resistance, even if nobody ever knew the risks he took to do it.

Passing through the encampment as though he was wandering aimlessly without anyone being wiser when he stopped to stroke Jack, the camp dog. Squatting down in front of him, he scratched his ears and muttered to the dog.

"Sorry Jack, I'd hoped that last time was going to be **_the_ **last time."

With a quick look around to see if anyone was paying attention to him, he surreptitiously reached down and flipped the dog's yellow dish over. The Resistance needed to know what was coming for them.

* * *

The darkness of his cell had been overwhelming the first couple of weeks he'd been inside the detention center. His mind had tricked him over every sound, no matter how minute. For awhile he told himself that it was the resistance coming to save him, or that the old man had returned at last. But he'd only been fooling himself. 

Eventually they began pulling him from his cell for interrogation, usually by one of the Brother Cavils or the Dorals. That's when he realized that next to the pain they inflicted on his body, the darkness had been a blessing. Now his cage was kept lit up night and day, a cruel, unrelenting, blinding light only made worse by the taking of his eye.

His eye. He reached up and touched the piece of gauze covering the now empty socket. How many days had it been since one of the chrome jobs had plucked his eye right from his head? Reached out with that claw-like hand and just popped it right out until it dropped to the floor.

Brother Cavil had laughed at his screams of agony, suggesting that maybe they should take the other one too. He had taken a step towards where Tigh's body lay crumpled upon the floor of the interrogation cell. Tigh hated to admit it, even to himself, but he'd cringed away in fear at that moment, pleas for his other eye to be spared on the tip of his tongue. But it wasn't until the Cylon's foot came down on that eyeball lying on the floor that Tigh realized the monster's true intent.

His eye. Gone.

Now he lay in the brightness of his cell, trying to cower away from the light as he marked off what he thought was another day of captivity on the wall. He'd hid it as best he could, the tic marks counting out the days of hell he'd spent there. He counted them off slowly in his mind, twenty-three days. It felt like so much longer. As he heard footsteps approaching the door of his cell one thought filled his mind, the old man had better return soon because he wanted to live long enough to see all those skin-job sons of bitches destroyed.

* * *

"How are things on the Pegasus?" William asked as he poured himself a glass of water and joined Sharon on the couch of his quarters. She'd visited him nearly every day since leaving the detention block and moving onto the Pegasus. Although he'd never admit it to anyone else he had actually grown closer to her than any other person in the fleet since the jump from New Caprica. The way they talked now, it was like having the Boomer back that he had known from before the Cylons had ever destroyed the twelve colonies. 

"I think Lee's going a little overboard on his mission to 'protect' me from the rest of the crew," she answered with a small, sad smile. It was odd, ever since she'd put her plan in motion to retrieve her daughter from the planet it seemed the Admiral had become the closest thing she had to a friend in the fleet besides Helo.

And she wasn't really sure what to call Helo, friend, comrade, protector, lover. He'd been all of those things to her at one time or another. They were working on their relationship again, seeing if they could salvage things between them.

"And I don't think Dee appreciates his efforts much," she added with a frown, her mind flashing back to the uncomfortable meal in the Commander's quarters the evening before.

William nodded thoughtfully, not really surprised. "What about the repairs? How are those going?"

"Almost finished, but she wasn't in as bad of shape as the Galactica."

He nodded and they fell into silence, both wishing to discuss something with the other and neither knowing where to begin once the small talk had ended. Sharon allowed her mind to wander back to the Helo question. What would their future hold?

It'd been so much easier when she'd allowed her anger to control her emotions. She just shut everything down but her need to hurt someone else as badly as she hurt inside. It was what had helped her survive those first weeks after she'd been forced to believe her child was dead. And afterwards, she used that anger to protect herself from feeling too much about anything or anyone, even Helo.

"Sharon?" William's voice cut into her thoughts.

"I'm…sorry. I was thinking about something else," she confessed sheepishly.

"So I see," he smiled. "I was saying that…well….I thought you should be the first one to know."

"What?" she asked breathlessly, sitting up quickly, alertness flooding her body. Was he going to tell her that they'd finally heard from their people on New Caprica? Would she finally be getting closer to reclaiming her child?

Sensing where her mind was going with his faltering pronouncement, he hastened to finish. "I'm promoting Helo. I want him on board Galactica as my new XO."

She did her best to keep her disappointment from her voice when she responded. "That…that's wonderful. I'm sure he'll be very happy to accept."

"But?"

"No buts. I think we both know that Helo was never cut out to be a CAG," she grinned. "Even though he did seem to enjoy giving the orders instead of getting them for a change, I don't think he was really happy doing it. He never wanted to be a Viper pilot."

"He picked it up fast."

"He's a survivor, like we all are. Adapt and overcome, that should be the mantra of everyone in this fleet."

"I wanted to offer you the chance to come back to the Galactica with him. If you'd like to…."

Sharon let out a bemused chuckle as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on knees and looking at him. "I was actually here today to ask you if I could return to the Galactica. Permanently."

It was William's turn to be caught off guard. He'd planned on using Helo's promotion as an incentive to get Sharon back on the Galactica. It wasn't that he wouldn't have promoted Helo regardless of her decision though, he was a good officer and William needed someone solid and level-headed as his second in command. Especially now, since every day that passed without any of his Raptor patrols reporting contact with the planet was another day closer to being forced to attempt a blind rescue that was essentially a suicide mission.

"Why? What made you change your mind now?" he couldn't keep himself from asking.

"Because I know you, and I know that you're going to go back for our people whether there's contact or not from the planet."

"That's suicide," he protested, even though moments before he'd been thinking just that thought.

"It doesn't matter. Not to you, not now. I can feel it every time we talk; you're still blaming yourself for jumping the ships and leaving them behind."

He was quiet, leaning forward himself now, almost mirroring her own position. But instead of looking at her with the same earnest expression that was on her face, he let his head hang. She was right. Every day his mind was filled with the thoughts that he'd betrayed his people, left them to be slaughtered while he cut and run. It was the first thought in his mind when he awoke in the morning and the last before he dropped off to sleep each night. It was the thought that woke him up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, dreams of the people he cared about suffering and dying, cursing his name as they did. Saul, Laura, the Chief, Kara, by the Gods, Kara…..

"Whether or not we go back after we've made contact, or if we go in firing blind, we don't stand much of a chance if the man in charge can't forgive himself. If you hadn't have given the order to jump…..humanity would have just stopped. In a single instant, everything we've been fighting for would have been for nothing."

William let her words penetrate his mind, desperately praying they were true, knowing deep in his heart she was right. It was better to lose the battle for the sake of the war, and their war was just beginning anew.

* * *

A/N: Apologies for the long delay in updating, my computer and Fanfic haven't wanted to play well with each other lately. A tweak here and an upgrade there and hopefully we'll be back in business on a more regular basis from here on in. 


	18. Chapter 18

Kara sat immobile on the couch, her arms hugged around her middle, and her eyes puffy with unshed tears. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. Six weeks she'd been in this cell. Six weeks of Leobon professing his love. Six weeks of killing him over and over again. Six weeks of pure mental agony. And here she was waiting for him to return so they could go through it once more.

How many times had she killed him? She'd lost count, fifteen times, twenty? Lately he was staying away for longer and longer periods after a download, this time it had been five days. Hunger was beginning to take hold of her, preying on her mind and distracting her. She glanced towards the window, shadows falling across the outer bars telling her that it was near sundown. Her stomach growled. When was he coming back?

Her mind sluggishly focused on the Leobon problem. How many more deaths would it take before the Cylons finally ran out of his spare bodies? Maybe they never would. Maybe they were building more of him all the time, a regular assembly line of Leobons for her to kill. Or maybe that smug little bastard Doral would kill her just to save Leobon from himself. He'd hinted at it once, when he'd arrived with a couple of the toasters to help clean up the mess she'd made with a broken piece of glass across Leobon's throat. Without Leobon there to protect her, she had no illusions that the others would allow her to continue to live. He was her captor and her savior all rolled into one.

She sighed, scrubbing her hands over her face. Thoughts like that were getting her nowhere. "Stay alert, Kara," she told herself again, focusing her exhausted mind to the sounds around her again. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, listening to the sound of the climate control system inside the building, its steady hum teasing her mercilessly. She'd already expended too much time searching for vents, possible access points to make her escape through, but all for naught. Not a single vent had been big enough for her to as much as squeeze inside.

There had to be something she'd missed, some simple way out. She was just too tired and hungry to find it. Sleep was a luxury she grabbed in small, restless amounts, usually during the times that Leobon disappeared during the afternoons on the days in between downloads. Occasionally she managed to grab a few hours then too, but it was rarely restful and never enough. He haunted her waking hours and her own mind terrorized her when she slept.

She eased her head around in a slow circle, stretching the muscles in her neck and hoping to ease the tension in her shoulders. Memories filled her mind of the only other time she'd ever even come close to feeling this tired. It had been back at the beginning of it all. Not when the Cylons had first attacked, but after they'd discovered the fleet following their desperate jump away from Ragnar Station.

It'd been rough, 33 hours of non-stop battle stations and being ready to launch at a moments notice. The funny part was, those hours of flying hadn't bothered her. No, the flying hadn't been bad at all next to coming down from the high of all those artificial 'stims' the old man had ordered his pilots to take. Stims frakked with a pilots worse than a lack of sleep did, that bitch Kat was living proof of that.

Flying. Funny how, in all these months of living on this rock, she'd never had the time to miss it. And now, she could clearly picture every last detail of hurtling through the openness of space, completely free. She'd worked her ass off to become a pilot, and she'd just chucked it all away. And for what?

She'd told herself that she'd wanted a new beginning for her new life with Sam. That life on a battlestar was no way to start a marriage. She'd even convinced herself that Sam would never be happy standing in the shadows and playing house-husband to a Viper jockey. They were all reasonable excuses, but that's all they were, excuses. Truth be told, she'd been running away, pure and simple.

But dwelling on those memories didn't help her any either, if anything they would cloud her mind even more. She'd need a clear head to survive, and if she survived, there'd be plenty of time for memories, and the inevitable regrets they brought, later.

She heard the sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening and footsteps springing lightly down the steps. She didn't have to look to know he was back.

"Kara, honey," he called out. "I've brought dinner. You must be starving," he said with a smile, depositing two plates onto the table. "Come, join me," he added, holding out a hand to her.

Ignoring his hand, Kara rose to her feet and slowly approached the table, like she had on countless other nights. He was right, she was hungry, but she'd never give him the satisfaction of knowing it. As she sat down she saw steamed vegetables and a juicy looking steak on the plates. Even as her mouth began to water at the sight, she started making plans.

He sat down across from her, pulling a folding knife from his pocket and flicking the blade open, cutting into his own steak and sighing with pleasure when he took the first bite. It was a moment or two before he noticed she wasn't doing the same. "Is there something wrong with the food?"

"I need a knife," she said softly, "for the steak."

He looked at her for a moment, considering, before rising to his feet and coming around the table to stand beside her. She warily kept her eyes focused on the knife wondering if he would really relinquish it to her. For a moment they made eye contact and he smiled slightly as he raised the knife. Almost imperceptively, Kara felt herself tense. Then he surprised her by reaching out with the hand closest to her and grasping her fork and proceeded to cut the steak up for her.

"Thank you," she said when he slid back into his seat once more, meeting his gaze and giving him a small smile. In a fraction of a heartbeat, as soon as he returned her smile, she attacked. Sliding a piece of chair frame from beneath her seat cushion she lunged at him, and thrust its pointed end into his neck. A spurt of warm blood spilled over her hand as she pulled it free and rammed it home once more.

Leobon's hands grasped at her arms, surprisingly strong for someone who was losing blood so quickly. "I love you Kara," he choked out, infuriating her.

"Stop. Saying. That," she ground out, stabbing him over and over again in a crazed frenzy before finally regaining control of herself. Falling away from his body, she listened to the final death rattles.

"See…you….soon," he rasped.

Kara couldn't stop herself from moving forward until she was crouching over his body, listening intently for any sign that he wasn't dead. But then she mentally slapped herself for her foolishness. Of course he wasn't dead. He was a machine, and he'd be back soon, just like he promised.

She started to climb to her feet, but paused, reaching a tentative hand out and patting down his pockets until she felt what she was looking for. After a little maneuvering she managed to slide the knife free. Palming it, she debated what to do next, her mind filled with a sense of déjà vu.

"Kara Thrace, this is your life," she said to herself, wiping the blood from her hands. Fighting off the urge to cry, she returned to the table, taking a bite of the steak instead. Leobon would be home soon, and her day was just about to begin again.

* * *

"We've decided to release Laura Roslin," Doral announced. "Your job will be to follow her and report who she talks to." 

Jammer sent a silent prayer to the Gods that the conflicted thoughts in his mind weren't reflected on his face. Spying on his fellow humans wasn't what he'd bargained for when he agreed to join the New Caprica police force. He'd taken Doral at his word that the police force was created to help maintain a peaceful coexistence between their two races, but so far he just felt like a hired bully. Worse yet, now that he was in, it was impossible to get back out.

"James?"

"You want me to follow President Roslin?"

"Former President," Doral chided, enjoying the discomfort on Jammer's face at being corrected.

"Right….former President Roslin. You want me to spy on her?"

"We believe she'll make contact with other Resistance leaders. We want you to follow her and report back the names of anyone she makes contact with….no matter how inconsequential it may seem."

Jammer was silent, he couldn't think straight with Doral looking at him so expectantly, and that Brother Cavil sitting silently behind him. The Doral models were a thinking model, cold and heartless to be sure, but they always affected that air of being nothing but a bored politician creating the laws and instigating the battles that others would have to die for.

The Cavils were much worse. They looked like an older, wiser fatherly figure, kind of a Cylon equivalent to the Admiral, but they acted ruthlessly. Although he'd never actually been beyond the offices of the detention center, Jammer had heard rumors about the brutalities the Cavils inflicted upon the prisoners. It ate at his mind, the idea of humans suffering like that at Cylon hands. How many of them had he helped to bring in?

"You're an officer of the New Caprica Police Force, James. It's your duty to follow orders," Doral prodded.

"Perhaps he'd rather join some of our other guests in the detention cells," Cavil cut in cheerfully. "I'm sure they would welcome him with open arms….especially once they know who and what he is."

"When will she be released?" Jammer asked quickly, trying to keep the fear he was feeling out of his voice. He knew how his fellow humans felt about those that crossed the line and joined the New Caprica police. Just like most of the others who'd joined up, he'd allowed his dreams for peace to overshadow his better judgment. Now he was trapped between the Cylons and a constant fear of discovery by his own people. Maybe there was no future for humanity.

"That's more like it. She'll be out-processed within the hour, so I would suggest you take the time to get out of that uniform and into something a little more...civilian. We'll expect daily reports. Like I said, I want to know where she goes and who she talks to," Cavil commanded. "Is that clear?"

Jammer nodded, rising to his feet. "Can I...can I go now?" he asked quietly, not meeting Cavil's eyes.

"Go."

* * *

Apollo jolted awake, a single word bursting forth from his mouth as he sat up fast looking around at his surroundings blindly while he struggled to separate reality from his dream. "Frak," he muttered, pushing his hand roughly through his sweat soaked hair, as he finally made it back to reality. Beside him the mattress dipped as someone hastily climbed from the bed. Not just somebody, her. He bit back another oath as the events of the previous night came crashing back into focus. 

"Kara. You said Kara, just now."

"I was dreaming," he mumbled.

"About her."

"It was just a dream, it didn't mean anything." His words sounded false, even to his own ears. He'd been dreaming about Kara more and more often lately, and almost always it ended in her death at the hands of the Cylons right before his very eyes. Close enough to witness her death, but too far away to prevent it.

"What's so frakking special about her?" her voice bit out coldly. The sound of rustling clothing punctuated her words as she struggled to dress herself as quickly as possible.

"Nothing...we're friends...we were friends..."

"Bullshit! This isn't the first time it's happened, Lee." She dropped back onto the bed and hastily began shoving her foot into her boots tying them. Anger showed in her every movement, her whole body fairly radiating with it. Her words took him by surprise, confusing him. Huge mistake that it was, this was the only time they'd been together like this since jumping away from the planet, and the dreams had only started recently.

"I don't know what you're talking about. It was just a stupid dream, we've all had them," he muttered quietly.

"Gods….I just wish that for once you'd be honest with me. What makes Kara Thrace so damn important Lee?"

For the last time, it was **_just a dream_**. She's just….I mean, we're only……" He almost tripped over the words in his haste to downplay the integral role Kara had to his life. There weren't any words to describe it, leastwise, none that he was ready to accept.

"You're in love with her aren't you?"

"**_No_**!" he retorted much more forcefully than he'd intended, giving her all the answer she needed.

"If you really mean that, then I feel sorry you, because you're not just lying to me, you're lying to yourself about how you feel. And in the meantime you're giving up your own happiness by refusing to move on with your life. You're holding onto memories and feelings for a woman who may be dead for all we know."

"She's not dead."

"We don't know if any of them are still alive….."

"She's **_not_** dead."

"Maybe, but even if she's not, she's married for fraks sake! If the Admiral somehow manages to make contact with our people on the planet, if we're able to rescue them, she's still going to be married to someone else Lee. What then?"

"We go on as we always have, as friends."

She looked at him, right into his eyes for so long and hard he had to fight the urge to fidget uncomfortably before her. It felt like she was looking right through him and into his soul, seeing all of his deepest, darkest, most tightly help secrets. At last she broke off eye contact as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She whirled about and headed towards the door swinging it open and disappearing into the passageway without another word, the only sound was his voice calling out after her.

"Dee!"

Lee collapsed back against the pillows, his head beginning to pound. He should be on the bridge right now, throwing out orders and getting this bucket ready to fight. Memories of Dee's words and the death of the dream Kara kept pushing those practical thoughts from his mind though, making it difficult to focus.

"Frak!" he cried out, slamming a balled up fist into the empty mattress at his side.

* * *

Footsteps echoed down as Leobon hurried down them calling out, "Kara, honey! I'm home." Before she knew it he was suddenly standing there before her, smiling as though nothing had happened. 

She looked up at him without saying a word. He'd never reappeared after a download this quickly, not alone anyway. Questions flooded her mind. What made this download different? How could he walk past his own dead body as though it wasn't even there? And how could he be so cheerful as he did it?

"What's the matter honey? You look like hell, almost like you've seen a ghost," he said mockingly. "Now, as for me, it's been a helluva day. I think I'm ready for a good nights of sleep. After you hand over that knife you took."

"I don't…"

"Don't play dumb, Kara, it doesn't suit you. Give me the knife like a good girl, and we'll just call it a night." He face turned serious, all playfulness wiped away in an instant. "Now."

Grudgingly, feeling like a child who'd been caught stealing, she reached behind her, shoving her thumb and forefinger into a small, almost unnoticeable slit in the sofa cushion and extracted the folded pocketknife. His face was still devoid of emotion as he watched her intently, almost as though he knew she was weighing her options of whether or not to attack. At last she settled for hurling the knife at his face.

Smiling once more, he caught it single-handedly. "That's my girl."

Turning, he moved away from her making his way towards a doorway off from the main room. It wasn't until he was halfway to the bedroom that Kara finally seemed to find her voice and halted him.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"I told you, I'm going to bed. Did you want to join me?" he asked, gracing her with a leering grin.

"No! What about **_that_**?" she asked, jabbing a finger towards his corpse on the floor.

"Oh yeah, him." He strode back over and looked down at his own body before meeting Kara's eyes with a sly smile. "Well," he drawled out slowly, as though contemplating the situation, "it looks like you'll be sleeping with me tonight after all, one way or another. You either spend the night with a living, breathing me, or something that looks like a yesterday's leftover dinner me. It's your choice. Goodnight, Kara."

Without another word he disappeared into the bedroom, leaving the door open in invitation behind him. Kara stared at the doorway long after he'd disappeared through it. She could either share a bed with him, or a night on the couch beside his bloody corpse. No contest there, the bloody corpse would win any day.


	19. Chapter 19

Stepping out into the fenced in courtyard of the detention center Saul worried for a moment that it might all be a dream and he was going to wake up in his dark cell again. Then he caught sight of the warm sunlight shining down just beyond the covered walkway he'd exited the building onto, real sunlight, not those damnable lights that they'd blasted 24 hours a day for weeks on end. But those hadn't been so bad, not in retrospect, not compared to those long days of total darkness that followed.

'Filthy skin job bastards,' he thought. He wouldn't let the memories of what they'd done to him ruin this day.

He stepped out into that glorious sunlight, feeling it wash over his face. Its brightness brought tears to his remaining eye and he blinked rapidly, trying to force the moisture away. It wouldn't do for anyone to see the Colonel looking like he was crying. Beneath the gauze pad one of the skin jobs had taped over the empty eye socket he could still feel the lids moving, uselessly trying to keep the light away from an eye that wasn't there.

'What will Ellen think when she sees me?'

A moment of uncertainty swept over him at that thought, pushing aside his petty concerns about a few tears. Ellen. Things had finally seemed to be going good for them again, really good. It hadn't been like that since right after they'd married. Those blessed months they'd enjoyed just after the first Cylon war had ended, before her flirtations and lies had fueled his jealousy and rage. Before they both turned to alcohol to solve their problems.

When he'd finally agreed that it was time to resign his commission and join the other colonists settling New Caprica she'd been like the giddily happy girl he'd fallen in love with. And then the Cylons had come, leaving them prisoners on a planet that had once filled them with hope.

'Can she still love a one eyed man? Am I still the man she knew?' he asked himself. Deep down inside, he knew this captivity had changed something inside of him, made him harder, full of hatred. Was he even capable of loving her anymore?

"Saul!"

He looked up, the sound of her voice calling his name catching him by surprise. She stood just outside the fence watching his slow progress across the courtyard. Her face was completely neutral, giving away nothing of her thoughts.

"Saul!" she called out again, waving her arm slightly as though uncertain that he could see her.

Before he knew it, he was standing outside of the fence and she was hurling herself into his arms, tears that hadn't been there a moment before now flowing unchecked down her cheeks. As his arms tightened around her it hit him. She'd thrown herself at him like a starving man offered a meal.

'Had she seen the eye patch? Did she have any idea what lay beneath?' he wondered.

She pulled back slightly from his embrace, her hands skimming up and over his face with the softest of touches.

"Oh Saul, what did they do to you?" she breathed out softly. But there was no revulsion on her face, no pity in her voice, just the barest note of regret. Regret that he'd suffered. He pulled her in close for another embrace.

It wasn't at all the reception he'd anticipated, but he was in no way disappointed by it. Instead, it gave him hope. Maybe things would be okay in the long run, when the old man came back to rescue them.

"Let's go home, Saul," she whispered, clutching his arm to her side and drawing him away from the fence.

'Home,' he thought wistfully. That was anywhere but here.

* * *

Ellen looked nervously over her shoulder, trying not to make the motion obvious to Saul, oblivious to the fact that she was on his newly blinded side and he couldn't readily see her anyway. She half expected one of the NCP officers or Brother Cavil himself to suddenly materialize and tip him off to just how often she'd been a visitor to the detention center over the course of his imprisonment there. 

It wasn't one of her prouder moments, trading sex for Saul's freedom, but what other choice was there? The Cylons took what they wanted, you bargained with them on their terms. The trick was letting them think that what they were getting what they really wanted.

As they made their way through the settlement, Ellen's eyes were drawn to where Colonial One sat off in the distance and for a moment she felt a pang of regret. She hadn't planned for any of this to happen when she'd started pleading with Saul to retire. In her mind, all she'd seen were the glorious possibilities.

It had become obvious to her that Baltar wasn't up for the task of rebuilding man-kind, rumors of his overindulgences in alcohol and women had swept through the fleet almost as soon as the first settlers had arrived on the planet. And after Saul had agreed to move to the planet, she'd questioned everyone she came in contact with who'd been to the settlement and witnessed first hand the deteriorating, ineffectual government. It was only a matter of time before the colonists revolted, looking for real leadership.

And who better to lead the colony after Baltar's failure then a military man? She'd imagined the colony turning to Saul when elections rolled around, if they'd even wait that long. All of her dreams seemed to be on the verge of becoming reality.

But like it had so often happened in her life, nothing had worked out the way she'd dreamed. Baltar was still in power, even if he was little more than a puppet for the Cylons. And Saul had lost an eye to their captors, while she'd resorted to becoming their whore.

What would happen if he learned the truth about his release? Would he ever believe she'd done it out of love?

* * *

It'd all started out so right night before. They'd had dinner in the Admiral's quarters where the conversation had started out on the everyday, mundane matters surrounding the fleet to the old man giving them more hope for the future than either of them had dared to dream. The talk had flowed easily between them, and for the first time in the three long months since leaving New Caprica behind it was easy to forget the rest of their problems, to pretend that things were normal again for just a little while. 

After leaving William's quarters, it'd only seemed natural to retire back to the XO's cabin for one last drink before going their separate ways for the night. One drink had lead to another while they'd spoken in hushed tones about the Admiral's suggestion and what it could mean for their future. It was almost as if they were afraid that speaking out loud, away from the confines of this darkened room would ruin it somehow.

Eventually though, the talking had stopped and the drinks were set aside forgotten. Without either of them really knowing who made the first move, they'd reached out for each other. There was no hesitation, only a feeling of rightness.

But kisses and caresses had triggered bittersweet memories of happier times together. It didn't take long before that wasn't enough for them; they needed more, wanted more. Any doubts that what they were doing was wrong had fallen away with each bit of clothing dropped carelessly to the floor. Everything felt perfect and right, almost like nothing had ever come between them. Maybe it wouldn't last, but at that moment, in that darkened ships quarters, it felt like maybe there was a future for them, a future for them all.

* * *

As she was on everyday since her release from the detention center, Laura was nervous as she walked through the settlement to the chapel. As she entered, she wished for the thousandth time that she'd overcome the sense of guilt that filled her each time she came up with a new excuse to keep Maya and the baby from joining her. She'd done her best to keep herself at a distance from the pair since she'd been released. It wouldn't do to have the Cylons guessing Hera's identity. Worse yet, for them to use the younger woman and child against her somehow, without even knowing who it was they were hurting. 

Lost in her thoughts, she went through the motions of the prayer ritual, simultaneously praying to the gods for guidance while her mind raced with questions.

Was she being watched? Or was it just her imagination running wild? Either way, she was afraid of the answers. One hammered home the fact that even outside the walls of the detention center she was still a prisoner. The other made her wonder if she could even trust her own mind. When she was honest with herself, the former was just a sad fact of life on New Caprica. The latter a product of her greatest fears. Maybe the Cylons had succeeded in breaking her after all.

And where did those options leave her now? She found herself constantly looking over her shoulder, suspecting everyone who wasn't actively a part of the resistance movement. But the resistance, although growing in numbers steadily, was still small. The surge of new recruits after the attack on the old chapel had gradually tapered off to nothing, while the New Caprica police force seemed to be growing.

It was mind boggling, the number of people volunteering to work for the Cylons. And they knew what they were doing was wrong, why else would they hide their faces behind those ski masks? Perhaps in the beginning they were idealistic and naïve enough to think they could help their fellow humans. But somewhere along the way they had to see that what they were doing was wrong, didn't they?

So many questions, if only she could figure out the identity of just one of those NCP officers maybe she could find out the answers she needed.

Catching a movement from the corner of her eye as she watched the scrap of paper with her prayer for the Gods burn atop the altar, she swiftly turned, expecting to see one of the Cylons watching her. She expelled a relieved breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding when she saw the dark haired man standing near the entrance, looking embarrassed to be there.

"I'm sorry….." he muttered, looking down at his feet. "I didn't mean to intrude…."

"I was just finishing up," she said smiling as she gestured towards the altar. "Please…."

"Yeah….okay…..thanks…." he murmured, stepping closer.

Still he didn't meet her eyes as he knelt beside her and reached hesitantly for a scrap of paper and the little stub pencil that someone had left behind. He hurriedly scribbled something down, folded the paper and dropped it onto the little plate like Laura had done herself.

As he went about the motions of the prayer, she rose to her feet and headed for the entrance, pausing there as it suddenly dawned on her why he seemed familiar. Turning, she was surprised to find him watching her rather than the burning paper.

"You're one of Chief Tyrol's labor union boys aren't you?" she asked, surprising him.

"Yeah, that's right…Jammer…ur…..James, I mean. Everyone calls me Jammer," he finished lamely. Caught off guard, he hadn't expected her to turn around.

"Jammer," she repeated, nodding her head thoughtfully. "I'll leave you to your prayers."

* * *

He couldn't bring himself to stop touching her, his sliding a gentle caress down her arm before coming to rest at her waist. Neither of them had spoken a word, just held each other and enjoyed the afterglow. It was inevitable that one of them would screw it up, he supposed belatedly. 

Maybe it was this newfound closeness, but suddenly he couldn't stop himself from blurting out his greatest fear in the worst possible way.

"What happens if we don't find Hera?" Helo asked softly. As soon as the words left his mouth he wished he could turn back time and take them back. Almost immediately he felt her body tense and begin to draw away from him. He tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her resisting body close once more. His only consolation was that she wasn't really struggling to get away.

"Sharon….." he said, his voice holding the barest hint of a plea. She looked at him, a mixture of anger and sadness warring across her face. With a sigh, she stopped struggling, rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

"I can't think about that," she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. "Without Hera, there's nothing for me here."

"I'm here! What about us?"

"I don't know," she replied wearily. "Is there an 'us' Helo?"

"Isn't there? After last night…."

"We were drunk, Helo."

"I don't think so," he argued. "I know I wasn't, and I've never seen you drunk in all the time I've known you."

'Were Cylons even capable of getting drunk?' he wondered, not daring to voice the question aloud. Everything was too fragile between them right now.

She lay on her back now, staring up at the ceiling and saying nothing. He was kicking himself for opening his mouth so soon. Talking about the daughter they'd lost was like pouring salt into an open wound. But there was no going back now. He lay beside her, mimicking her position, waiting to see if she would say anything. When she didn't speak he started talking once more.

"Have you ever noticed that before last night, ever since the Admiral had you freed, we talked all the time but never really said anything? Not about what we're really thinking….feeling. We talk about the fleet, about going back after the others and finding Hera, but never about us. Then last night….it reminded me of those days on the run back on Caprica. It's stupid, I know, but I almost miss those days. All we had was each other and hope….. "

"Until you found out what I was," she said softly. Something in her voice had him levering himself up on his elbow so he could look down and see her face. The silent tears coursing down over her cheeks were like a knife through his heart. Anger he'd become accustomed too since Hera's fake death, and even the indifference that seemed to plague most of their relationship since, but for the first time he felt like he was seeing the real Sharon Valerii. The Cylon, no, the woman who felt the same pain and fears about the future as he did.

"I was terrified," he admitted for the first time ever. "And hurt…angry…..confused."

As he spoke, he reached out with his free hand and softly wiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingers.

"There I was, alone on the planet, the last human, that's what I thought anyway. And then you appeared, saving my life and giving me hope. I wasn't alone anymore. When I saw the other Sharons……" he broke off, memories of what he'd felt causing his throat to tighten.

She raised her hand, catching hold of his and entwining their fingers, still unspeaking.

"Even after finding out what you really are, I tried to hate you and I couldn't. I still can't. On Caprica, when Starbuck tried to shoot you….I realized then that whatever you are I still loved you. I love you, Sharon. So instead of making excuses for last night, I just need you tell me, is there still an 'us'?"


End file.
